Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The intestine.
  • noun A part or division of the intestine.
  • noun The interior of something.
  • noun Archaic The seat of pity or the gentler emotions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To take out the bowels of; eviscerate; penetrate the bowels of; disembowel.
  • noun One of the intestines of an animal; a division of the alimentary canal below the stomach; a gut, especially of man: chiefly used in the plural to denote the intestines collectively.
  • noun One of the viscera; any internal organ of the body, as the stomach, liver, brain, etc.
  • noun plural The interior part of anything.
  • noun plural The inner parts as the seat of pity or kindness; hence, tenderness; compassion.
  • noun plural Offspring; children.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To take out the bowels of; to eviscerate; to disembowel.
  • noun One of the intestines of an animal; an entrail, especially of man; a gut; -- generally used in the plural.
  • noun Hence, figuratively: The interior part of anything.
  • noun The seat of pity or kindness. Hence: Tenderness; compassion.
  • noun obsolete Offspring.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine.
  • noun in the plural The entrails or intestines; the internal organs of the stomach.
  • noun in the plural The (deep) interior of something.
  • noun in the plural, archaic The seat of pity or the gentler emotions; pity or mercy.
  • verb To disembowel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the part of the alimentary canal between the stomach and the anus

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French boel, from Latin botellus, small intestine, diminutive of botulus, sausage.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French boel, from Latin botellus, diminutive of botulus ("sausage").

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