- [countable] the tube in the body through which food passes when it leaves the stomach
- It can take up to 72 hours for food to pass through the gut.
- I had a terrible pain in my guts after eating too many plums.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- healthy
- pass through
- flora
- wall
- in the/your gut
- guts[plural] the organs in and around the stomach, especially in an animal
- I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed.
- I don't like movies that are full of blood and guts (= that show a lot of blood and violence).
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryphrases- blood and guts
- a pain in your gut
- a pain in your guts
- …
- [countable] (informal) a person’s stomach, especially when it is large synonym belly
- He had a bit of a gut on him, but otherwise he was quite skinny.
- a beer gut (= caused by drinking a lot of beer regularly)
- guts[plural] (informal) the courage and strength of mind that it takes to do something difficult or unpleasant
- He doesn't have the guts to walk away from a well-paid job.
Extra ExamplesTopics Personal qualitiesc1- It takes guts to keep on running even though you have blistered feet.
- She had the guts to stand up to the school bully.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + guts- have
- take
- [countable, usually plural] the place where your natural feelings that make you react in a particular way are thought to be
- in your guts I had a feeling in my guts that something was wrong.
- guts[plural] the most important part of something
- the guts of the problem
- (also catgut)[uncountable] thin strong string made from animals' intestines and used in making musical instruments, tennis rackets and medical equipment
Word OriginOld English guttas (plural), probably related to gēotan ‘pour’.
Idioms
See gut in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee gut in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbust a gut (doing something/to do something) (informal)
(also North American English, informal bust your butt/chops/hump, North American English, offensive, slang bust your ass)
- to make a great effort to do something
- It’s a problem which nobody is going to bust a gut trying to solve.
- I busted my chops to get into law school.
- These guys were busting their butts on the field, trying to excel at athletics.
go with your gut
- to make a decision based on something that you are certain about, even though you do not have any direct proof and cannot explain why you are certain
- I went with my gut and turned down the job.
greedy guts
- (British English, informal) used to refer to somebody who eats too much
- Make sure greedy guts doesn’t eat all the cake.
hate somebody’s guts
- (informal) to dislike somebody very much
have somebody’s guts for garters
- (British English, informal) to be very angry with somebody and punish them severely for something they have done
- She’ll have your guts for garters if she ever finds out.
slog/sweat/work your guts out
- (informal) to work very hard to achieve something
- I slogged my guts out for the exam.
spill your guts (to somebody)
- (North American English, informal) to tell somebody everything you know or feel about something, because you are upset
- He has spilled his guts in his new autobiography.
Check pronunciation:
gut