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