Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Bowel
Bow′el
,Noun.
[OE.
bouel
, bouele
, OF. boel
, boele
, F. boyau
, fr. L. botellus
a small sausage, in LL. also intestine, dim. of L. botulus
sausage.] 1.
One of the intestines of an animal; an entrail, especially of man; a gut; – generally used in the plural.
He burst asunder in the midst, and all his
bowels
gushed out. Acts i. 18.
2.
pl.
Hence, figuratively: The interior part of anything;
as, the
. bowels
of the earthHis soldiers . . . cried out amain,
And rushed into the
And rushed into the
bowels
of the battle. Shakespeare
3.
pl.
The seat of pity or kindness. Hence: Tenderness; compassion.
“Thou thing of no bowels.” Shak.
Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of
bowels
. Fuller.
4.
pl.
Offspring.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Bow′el
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Boweled
or Bowelled
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Boweling
or Bowelling
.] To take out the bowels of; to eviscerate; to disembowel.
Webster 1828 Edition
Bowel
BOW'EL
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2025
bowel
bowel
English
Noun
bowel (plural bowels)
- (chiefly medicine) A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine.
- (in the plural) The entrails or intestines; the internal organs of the stomach.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts I:
- And when he was hanged, brast asondre in the myddes, and all his bowels gusshed out.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts I:
- (in the plural) The (deep) interior of something.
- The treasures were stored in the bowels of the ship.
- 1592, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, I. i. 129:
- His soldiers […] cried out amain, / And rushed into the bowels of the battle.
- (in the plural, archaic) The seat of pity or the gentler emotions; pity or mercy.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, II. i. 48:
- Thou thing of no bowels, thou!
- Fuller
- Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of bowels.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, II. i. 48:
- (obsolete, in the plural) offspring
- 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure, for Measure, III. i. 29:
- Friend hast thou none, / For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
- 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure, for Measure, III. i. 29:
Derived terms
Derived terms
Translations
large intestine
|
intestines, entrails
|
interior of something
|
seat of pity or gentler emotions
Verb
bowel (third-person singular simple present bowels, present participle bowelling, simple past and past participle bowelled)
- (now rare) To disembowel.
- 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, page 149:
- Their bodies are first bowelled, then dried upon hurdles till they be very dry [...].
- 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, page 149:
See also
- large bowel
- small bowel
- small intestine
- colon
- laxative
- tharm