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Definition of bowel noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

bowel

noun
 
/ˈbaʊəl/
 
/ˈbaʊəl/
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  1. [countable, usually plural] the tube along which food passes after it has been through the stomach, especially the end where waste is collected before it is passed out of the body
    • (medical) to empty/move/open your bowels (= to pass solid waste out of the body)
    • bowel cancer/cancer of the bowel
    • Patients are asked to report any change in bowel habit.
    • irritable bowel syndrome
    Topics Bodyc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • large
    • small
    • irritable
    verb + bowel
    • empty
    • evacuate
    • move
    bowel + noun
    • action
    • function
    • habit
    preposition
    • in the bowel
    See full entry
  2. the bowels of something
    [plural] (literary) the part that is deepest inside something
    • A rumble came from the bowels of the earth (= deep underground).
  3. Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French bouel, from Latin botellus, diminutive of botulus ‘sausage’.
See bowel in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee bowel in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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