Etymology Borrowed from Middle French bouel, from Old French boïel, from Latin botellus, diminutive of botulus (“sausage”). Doublet of boyau.
1
Medicine, Sciences A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine.
2
In plural The entrails or intestines; the internal organs of the stomach.
And when he was hanged, brast asondre in the myddes, and all his bowels gusshed out.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:
Leaue words & let them feele your lances pointes, UUhich glided through the bowels of the Greekes.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
3
Figuratively, In plural The (deep) interior of something.
The treasures were stored in the bowels of the ship.
His soldiers […] cried out amain, / And rushed into the bowels of the battle.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], line 129:
4
Archaic, In plural The seat of pity or the gentler emotions; pity or mercy.
Thou thing of no bowels, thou!c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 48:
Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of bowels.1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of Waltham Abbey:
Friend hast thou none, / For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], line 29:
Their bodies are first bowelled, then dried upon hurdles till they be very dry [...].1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 149: