gut
noun
the alimentary canal, especially between the pylorus and the anus, or some portion of it.
gut
1 American
[guht]
/ gʌt /
noun
-
guts
plural
-
the alimentary canal, especially between the pylorus and the anus, or some portion of it.
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guts,
-
bowels or entrails.
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Informal. courage and fortitude; nerve; determination; stamina.
Climbing that cliff takes a lot of guts.
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the inner working parts of a machine or device.
The mechanic had the guts of the refrigerator laid out on the kitchen floor.
-
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the belly; stomach; abdomen.
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the substance forming the case of the intestine; intestinal tissue or fiber.
sheep's gut.
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a preparation of the intestines of an animal, used for various purposes, as for violin strings, tennis rackets, or fishing lines.
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the silken substance taken from a silkworm killed when about to spin its cocoon, used in making snells for fishhooks.
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a narrow passage, as a channel of water or a defile between hills.
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Slang. Also gut course snap course.
verb (used with object)
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guts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gutted,
past participle, past
-
gutting
present participle
-
to take out the guts or entrails of; disembowel.
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to destroy the interior of.
Fire gutted the building.
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to plunder (a house, city, etc.) of contents.
Invaders gutted the village.
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to remove the vital or essential parts from.
The prisoner's letters were gutted by heavy censorship.
adjective
idioms
GUT
2
American
Physics.
gut
1
British
/ ɡʌt /
noun
-
-
the lower part of the alimentary canal; intestine
-
the entire alimentary canal
-
-
(often plural) the bowels or entrails, esp of an animal
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slang the belly; paunch
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See catgut
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a silky fibrous substance extracted from silkworms, used in the manufacture of fishing tackle
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a narrow channel or passage
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informal (plural) courage, willpower, or daring; forcefulness
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informal (plural) the essential part
the guts of a problem
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informal to make an intense effort
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informal to be extremely angry with someone
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informal to dislike a person very strongly
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informal to work very hard
verb
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to remove the entrails from (fish, etc)
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(esp of fire) to destroy the inside of (a building)
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to plunder; despoil
the raiders gutted the city
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to take out the central points of (an article), esp in summary form
adjective
GUT
2
British
/ ɡʌt /
acronym
gut
1
Scientific
/ gŭt /
-
The intestine of a vertebrate animal.
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The alimentary canal of an invertebrate animal.
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The tube in a vertebrate embryo that later develops into the alimentary canal, lungs, and liver.
GUT
2
Scientific
gut
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gutsimple
-
gutssimple
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have guttedperfect
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has guttedperfect
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am guttingprogressive
-
are guttingprogressive
-
is guttingprogressive
-
have been guttingperfect progressive
-
has been guttingperfect progressive
Past
-
guttedsimple
-
had guttedperfect
-
was guttingprogressive
-
were guttingprogressive
-
had been guttingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gut
First recorded before 1000; Middle English gut, guttes (plural), Old English guttas (plural), akin to gēotan “to pour”
Explanation
Your gut is part of your digestive system — it's where food goes after you eat it, to get broken down into nutrients and waste. The expression to "go with your gut" means to follow your instincts, how you feel in your belly. Your gut is quite literally your intestines, although the word is frequently used for any part of your digestive system, especially your stomach. Eating too much ice cream can give you an ache in your gut. When gut is a verb, it means to clean the internal organs out of a fish or other animal you intend to eat, or to completely empty a building. Colloquially, if you have guts, you're very brave.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Unlike most animals, it has no mouth or gut.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
Scientists had generally assumed that phenols and indoles were produced only by gut bacteria.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
Tepache, a fermented Mexican pineapple beverage that has recently gone mass-market, is another drink with purported wellness benefits that include gut health.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
"We think Prifs represent an emerging class of dietary nutrients that shape the composition of the gut microbiome and could have a far-reaching influence on metabolic health," said AbuSalim.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
A horrible feeling struck Doha deep in his gut.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
“You manage a baseball game with your EYES, HEART, & GUT as well as your BRAIN,” Blevins posted.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 27, 2020
If the GUT approach is right, the average decay time in question is far longer than the age of the universe itself.
From Economist ● Jan. 11, 2018
In GUT models, the forces that we are familiar with here on Earth, including gravity and electromagnetism, behaved very differently in the extreme conditions of the early universe than they do today.
From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016
The model of the car was unknown, according to the police call, but its plates included the letters and numbers GUT 18053.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 15, 2015
In Austrian spy-letters, now and afterwards, they are described to us as "GUT PREUSSISCH;" "strong for Prussia, the most of them, even in Dresden itself."
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 17 by Thomas Carlyle
Wholesale prices were flat in July and inflation pressures in the guts of the economy eased, adding to recent evidence of a slowdown in the rising cost of living.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Tom Holland is officially the first “Hot Ones” guest to really spill his guts during a spicy interview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
England began with the chance to bat themselves into a strong position, yet were left in peril by a Black Caps' opening burst that ripped the guts out of the home middle-order.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Our children may need the grit and guts of the pioneers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
She and her brother, while hiding at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had managed to solve an amazing mystery concerning a Renaissance statue, and Fadi admired her guts.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
Jenrick described this as an attempt at "modest savings" gutted by backbenchers.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Managing to survive two wars, a decapitated leadership, gutted air and naval defenses, weakened proxies and a spiraling economy have allowed it to play a weak hand strongly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
But such a move could undermine California’s years-long effort to rebuild the court reporter profession after it was gutted amid the state’s judicial budget crisis in 2012, labor leaders said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Teams of human moderators once employed by all the major platforms have been gutted.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Then the headless, gutted herring were shoveled into the ship’s hold and packed between layers of salt, to preserve them.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Damon’s Odysseus is numbed by the massacre of Troy’s civilians; Fiennes’ hates himself for leading the best men of Ithaca to their death, gutting his own community in the heedless destruction of another.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
“When you actually look at the totality of what’s being put forward, we are seeing a total gutting of a resource base,” she told NOTUS.
From Slate ● May 2, 2026
"As gutting as it is to miss another Slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing five set tennis on clay."
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
All-American Yaxel Lendeborg, gutting out a knee sprain, added 13.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
As I was thinking this I saw an old servant woman stooping over the same low table gutting a fish, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
