embowel, v.
(ɛmˈbaʊɪl)
Also 6–7 em-, enbowell, imbowel(l.
[In senses 1–2 ad. OF. enboweler (recorded in pa. pple. enbowelé = OF. emboulé, *emboelé) an alteration (with substitution of the prefix em- for es-) of OFr. esboueler, f. es- repr. L. ex- out + bouel bowel. In senses 3–4 f. en- + bowel.]
I. 1. trans. To remove the (abdominal) viscera from (a body), either for the purpose of embalming, or as part of a judicial penalty; = disembowel.
| 1521 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 141 Item I will that aftir my deth my body be emboweld. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iv. 109 Imbowell'd will I see thee by and by. 1640 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 64 W{supc}{suph} made me..send for a chirurgeon from York to embowel him. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) III. vi. §3. 124 Having prepared their bodies for the purpose by embowelling them. 1854 Tait's Mag. XXI. 488 He is the diviner who must embowel the beasts of sacrifice. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. vi. 490 Others he put in prison, others he embowelled. |
2. transf. and fig.
| 1589 Nashe Almond for Parrat 20, I haue not halfe emboweld my register. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 247 The Schooles embowel'd of their doctrine. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 587 Whose roar Emboweld with outragious noise the air And all her entrails tore. 1678 Lively Orac. viii. §26. 315 How curiously do men..embowel a text to find a pretence for cavil and objection. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 166 In England we have not yet been completely embowelled of our natural entrails. |
II. † 3. To put, convey into the bowels; in quots. transf. and fig. Obs.
| 1596 C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 44 On Ulysses Circe did bestow A blather, where the windes imboweld were. 1629 Donne Whitsunday Serm. Wks. 1839 I. 578 All was embowelled and enwombed in the waters. 1633 W. Struther True Happines 8 When God and man inhere mutually in other, and are enbowelled by mutuall love. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 26 His bodie was..imbowelled in a spacious coffin, the Ocean. Ibid. 105 A streame..arising from Mount Taurus here embowels it selfe into that sea. |
† b. To fill the bowels of (an animal). Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1679) 566 The young whelps of weasels being imbowelled with salt. |
† 4. intr. To convey food into the bowels. Obs.
| 1618 Latham 2nd Bk. Falconry (1633) 18 It will oftentimes very much molest her in her putting ouer and imbowelling. |