n. [ OE. bouel, bouele, OF. boel, boele, F. boyau, fr. L. botellus a small sausage, in LL. also intestine, dim. of L. botulus sausage. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 1. One of the intestines of an animal; an entrail, especially of man; a gut; -- generally used in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ] He burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Acts i. 18. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. pl. Hence, figuratively: The interior part of anything; as, the bowels of the earth. [ 1913 Webster ] His soldiers . . . cried out amain, And rushed into the bowels of the battle. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. pl. The seat of pity or kindness. Hence: Tenderness; compassion. “Thou thing of no bowels.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of bowels. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. pl. Offspring. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] |