different between bowel vs bowels

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French bouel, from Old French boïel, from Latin botellus, diminutive of botulus (“sausage”). Doublet of boyau.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bou'?l, boul, IPA^(key): /?ba?.?l/, /ba?l/
• Rhymes: -a??l, -a?l

Noun

bowel (plural bowels)

1. (chiefly medicine) A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine.
2. (in the plural) The entrails or intestines; the internal organs of the stomach.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts I:

     And when he was hanged, brast asondre in the myddes, and all his bowels gusshed out.

3. (in the plural) The (deep) interior of something.

   The treasures were stored in the bowels of the ship.

   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, I. i. 129:

     His soldiers […] cried out amain, / And rushed into the bowels of the battle.

4. (in the plural, archaic) The seat of pity or the gentler emotions; pity or mercy.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, II. i. 48

     Thou thing of no bowels, thou!

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of Waltham Abbey

     Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of bowels.

5. (obsolete, in the plural) offspring
   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure, for Measure, III. i. 29:

     Friend hast thou none, / For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bowel (third-person singular simple present bowels, present participle bowelling or (US) boweling, simple past and past participle bowelled or (US) boweled)

1. (now rare) To disembowel.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, page 149:

     Their bodies are first bowelled, then dried upon hurdles till they be very dry [...].

See also

• large bowel
• small bowel
• small intestine
• colon
• laxative
• tharm

Anagrams

• Below, Blowe, Lebow, below, blowe, bowle, elbow

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ba?.?lz/
• Rhymes: -a??lz

Noun

bowels

1. plural of bowel

Noun

bowels pl (plural only)

1. The deepest or innermost part.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act III, Scene 4,^[1]

     O momentary grace of mortal men,

     Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!

     Who builds his hopes in air of your good looks,

     Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast,

     Ready, with every nod, to tumble down

     Into the fatal bowels of the deep.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume I, Book 5, Chapter 12, p. 264,^[2]

     Here we cannot suppress a pious Wish, that all Quarrels were to be decided by those Weapons only, with which Nature, knowing what is proper for us, hath supplied us; and that cold Iron was to be used in digging no Bowels, but those of the Earth.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 98,^[3]

     At length, when the last pint is casked, and all is cool, then the great hatchways are unsealed, the bowels of the ship are thrown open, and down go the casks to their final rest in the sea.

   • 1922, D. H. Lawrence, Aaron’s Rod, London: Martin Secker, Chapter 6, p. 69,^[4]

     The station was half deserted, half rowdy, several fellows were drunk, shouting and crowing. Down there in the bowels of London, after midnight, everything seemed horrible and unnatural.

2. The concept or quality that defines something at its very core.

3. The intestines.
4. Compassion, sympathy.
   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act II, Scene 4,^[5]

     Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,

     In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove,

     That, if requiring fail, he will compel;

     And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,

     Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy

     On the poor souls for whom this hungry war

     Opens his vasty jaws

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Philippians 2:1-2,^[6]

     If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

   • 1728, John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, Act II, Scene 9,^[7]

     Have you no Bowels, no Tenderness, my dear Lucy, to see a Husband in these Circumstances?

   • 1930, Mary Gaunt, Joan of the Pilchard, Chapter 15,^[8]

     ‘If I gave in to you, Reynell,’ said Bligh quietly, so quietly they could not tell whether he felt any pity for the boy or not, ‘the same plea could be put forth by sixteen others in less than half an hour,’ and he dropped his chin on his breast again as if there the discussion ended.

     ‘I told you he had no bowels,’ said Ledward.

5. (obsolete) The body as the source of offspring.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 2 Samuel 16:11,^[9]

     And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it?

   • 1751, Thomas Skinner, “A Sermon preach’d at the Ma’nor of Peace, in the County of Hampshire, on May the 9th, 1751” in Alfred Baylies Page, Reverend Grindall Rawson and his Ministry, 1907, p. 9,^[10]

     Had you been their natural Parents, and they the Children of your own Bowels, Methinks, you could not have Contributed much more Bountifully to their Assistance […]

   • 1845, Robert Browning, “The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St. Praxed’s Church” in Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, lines 63-64,^[11]

     What do they whisper thee,

     Child of my bowels, Anselm?

Synonyms

• (deepest or innermost part): centre/center, core, heart
• (intestines): entrails, guts, intestines

Derived terms

• bowelless (obsolete)
• move one's bowels

Translations

Anagrams

• Belows, Blowes, Bowles, Lebows, blowes, blowse, bowles, elbows