purtenance

[pur-tn-uh ns]

noun

the liver, heart, and lungs of an animal.

Origin of purtenance

1300–50; Middle English; aphetic variant of appurtenance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for purtenance

Historical Examples of purtenance

Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
The Bible for Young People
Anonymous
May he be damnd in his mouth, in his breast, in his heart and purtenance, down to the very stomach!
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Laurence Sterne

British Dictionary definitions for purtenance

purtenance

noun

archaic the inner organs, viscera

Word Origin for purtenance

C14: from Old French pertinance something that belongs; see appurtenance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012