bowel

[bou-uhl, boul]

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.

verb (used with object)

boweled, boweling , bowelled, bowelling .

1. to disembowel.

bowel

/ 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

bowel

1. The intestine.

Other Word Forms

• bowelless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bowel¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bowel¹

C13: from Old French bouel , from Latin botellus a little sausage, from botulus sausage

Example Sentences

The charity estimates the programme would cost £25 million a year - or about £18 per patient - similar to bowel and breast cancer screening.

Read more on BBC

Straining on the loo or feeling like you haven't fully emptied your bowels may also be signs of constipation - but these aren't the only ones.

Read more on BBC

Even in the darkest hours when she had bowel cancer a few years ago, I tried to avoid thinking about what it would mean to actually lose mum.

Read more on BBC

Protagonist’s stock is up over 70% so far this year through Thursday, fueled in part by the promising trial results of its treatments for plaque psoriasis—an autoimmune disease—and the bowel disease ulcerative colitis.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The project lost $2 million between two suspended grants, lending to a slowdown in research to develop new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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