bowel

American  

[bou-uhl, boul] / ˈbaʊ əl, baʊl /

noun

1. Anatomy.

   1. Usually bowels. the intestine.

   2. a part of the intestine.

2. bowels,

   1. the inward or interior parts.

      the bowels of the earth.

   2. Archaic. feelings of pity or compassion.

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verb (used with object)

boweled, boweling, bowelled, bowelling

1. to disembowel.

bowel British  

/ ˈbaʊəl /

noun

1. an intestine, esp the large intestine in man

2. (plural) innards; entrails

3. (plural) the deep or innermost part (esp in the phrase the bowels of the earth )

4. archaic (plural) the emotions, esp of pity or sympathy

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bowel Scientific  

/ bou′əl /

1. The intestine.

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Other Word Forms

• bowelless adjective

Etymology

Origin of bowel

1250–1300; Middle English b ( o ) uel < Old French < Latin botellus little sausage ( bot ( ulus ) sausage + -ellus -elle )

Example Sentences

Doctors discovered Morgan had a severed bowel and had developed sepsis.

From BBC

Symptoms can include lasting changes in bowel habits, blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss, and ongoing abdominal discomfort.

From Science Daily

The NHS has three cancer screening programmes - for bowel, breast and cervical cancer - available to certain age groups.

From BBC

The mum-of-three was diagnosed with bowel cancer in May 2022 but was recently told her chemotherapy was no longer responding and she has about 10 months to live.

From BBC

“To take just one example: When bowel cancer is caught at the earliest stage, around nine in 10 people survive for at least five years. When diagnosed late, that falls to just one in 10.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• decimate
• empty
• eviscerate
• loot
• ransack
• ravage