I. ˈbau̇(ə)l, esp S -au̇wəl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French boel, boiel, from Medieval Latin botellus, from Latin, small sausage, diminutive of Latin botulus sausage; probably akin to Old English cwith belly, womb, Old High German quiti vulva, Old Norse kvithr belly, womb, Gothic qithus stomach, womb
1. : the intestine or one of its divisions : gut — usually used in plural except in medical use
the large bowel
move your bowels
2.
a. obsolete
(1) : an internal organ
(2) : the inside parts together
b. archaic : the seat of pity or tenderness
thou thing of no bowels — Shakespeare
if you have any bowels of compassion
or of courage : guts , heart — usually used in plural
in the matter of backbone, brains, and bowels — Rudyard Kipling
3. bowels plural : the interior parts ; especially : the deep or remote parts
deep in the bowels of the earth
dark, stony bowels of a pyramid — Walter de la Mare
II. transitive verb
( boweled or bowelled ; boweled or bowelled ; boweling or bowelling ; bowels )
Etymology: Middle English bowelen, from bowel (I)
: eviscerate , disembowel
hanging and boweling their enemies