▪ I. entrail, n.1
(ˈɛntreɪl)
Chiefly in pl. Forms: α. 4–7 entraile, 4–5 entraille, 5–7 entrayle, 5 -traylle, (5 entrell(e, -treyll), 6–7 entral(l(e; β. 6–8 intrail(e, 6–7 intral(l(e, (6 intrayle, 7 interal).
[a. OF. entraille (now only in pl. entrailles) = Pr. intralia:—late L. intrālia inward parts, intestines, neut. pl. of *intrālis adj. ‘inward’, f. inter between, among: see interior. Cf. L. interānea entrails, whence OF. entraigne, Sp. entrañas. As the word, like others with same termination, represents a Lat. neut. pl. taken as a fem. sing., it had primarily a collective sense, the sing. and pl. being in early use equivalent.]
I. In sing.
† 1. a. collect. The intestines or internal parts generally; the ‘inside’. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26756 Þis entrail in fire þat brennes bi⁓takens þin vn-scriuen sinnes. c 1300 K. Alis. 3628 He smot that duk, on the breost; Thorugh livre, and his entraile. c 1400 Destr. Troy 11800 The bestis were britnet & broght to þe auter, With the entrell euermore euyn vppo lofte. 1652 Ashmole Theat. Chem. Brit. liii, 224 Yet have y mor poyse closyd in mine entrayle. |
b. Cookery. A stuffed paunch. Obs.
| c 1430 Cookery Bk. 38 An Entrayle—Take a chepis wombe; take Polettys y-rostyd..and do in the wombe. |
2. a. [With sense inferred from the pl.: see 3 a.] An internal organ of the body; = L. viscus. Now rare.
| 1677 Barrow Serm. (1686) III. 135 The heart, that material part and principal entrail of our Body, is the chief seat of the soul. 1807 G. Gregory Dict. Arts & Sc. II. 444/1 s.v. Plants, Linnæus defines them [stamina] to be an entrail of the plant. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. iii. 41 To taste an occasional entrail of our last half dozen rabbits. |
b. esp. A bowel, intestine.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 116 An Entrelle, vbi A tharme. |
II. In pl.
3. a. gen. The organs and parts enclosed in the trunk of man or (formerly) other animals.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 26752 Alle your entrailles ilkon in well⁓and pottes sal be don. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xv. 100 The spyther..spynneth and weueth of his entraylles the thredes of whiche he maketh his nettes. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. iii. ii. (Arb.) 42 Whether perles bee the byrthe or spaune of there entrals. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 526 The lungs, the softest of all the entrailes but for the marrow. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 56 The divine vapour..had diffused itself through the entrails of the priestess. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 200 The priests used to..devour the entrails of goats. 1838–43 Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxix. 143 The signs given by the entrails of the sacrifice. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Conn. Yankee 46 They would have dug his entrails out..to get at that tale and squelch it. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage c. 527 Hunger was gnawing at his entrails. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist iii. 159 He sprang from the bed, the reeking odour pouring down his throat, clogging and revolting his entrails. |
| β 1557 North tr. Gueuara's Diall Princes 43 b/1 The wormes shall eate hys intrayle sin the graue. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. ii. 144 And intrals feede the sacrifising fire. 1629 Davenant Albovine (1673) 431 All m'interals are shrunk up. 1728 T. Sheridan Persius Sat. ii. (1739) 31 Is it by the fat Intrails of Beasts? |
b. spec. The contents of the abdominal cavity; the bowels; the intestines.
| α 1382 Wyclif Acts i. 18 Alle his [Judas'] entrailis ben sched abrood. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C v b, For sekenes that haukis haue i their entrellis. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 251 The wounde of Rycharde was soo greefull to see..For all the entraylles appyered oute of his body. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. Ep. Rdr., The lower story of this frame, where the guttes and entrailes of the body..haue their abiding. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 783 Thine own begotten, breaking violent way Tore through my entrails. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 142 The flattering bait of pride to get her swallowed down into the entrails. |
| β 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 372 That intrailles of bestes and blode putts be clansed..by night. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 23 Wilt thou, O God, flye from such gentle Lambs, And throw them in the intrailes of the Wolfe? 1617 Markham Caval. iii. 41 It also purgeth the stomacke and intrals of all molten grease. 1704 Swift Batt. Bks. (1711) 240 If the Materials be nothing but Dirt, spun out of your own Intrails (the Guts of Modern Brains). 1726 Sloane Jamaica II. 304 The intrails were the same as those of other pigeons. |
† 4. The inward parts regarded as the seat of the emotions, thoughts, etc.; = ‘heart’, ‘soul’; also in phrase † entrails of mercy. Cf. bowel 3.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. xii. 107 Þe most[e] ardaunt loue of hys wijf brende þe entrailes of his brest. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 255 Ofte holy writt clepiþ mercy þe entrailis of mercy. 1382 ― Ecclus. xix. 23 The entrailes of hym ben ful of treccherie. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas iv. xiv. (1554) 114 a, In her entrayles all malice was enclosed. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1584) 264 That I shoulde bee of malicious entrailes, either double in wordes. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. iv. 87. 1611 Heywood Gold. Age i. i. Wks. 1874 III. 11 Her Intrails were all in a mutiny. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 128 In England we have not yet been completely embowelled of our natural entrails. |
5. transf. a. The inner parts of anything; the interior, internal contents (of the earth, etc., often with personification). Now somewhat rare.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xix. 73 The rotes haue hidde hemself wythin the entraylles of therthe their moder. 1576 Fleming Panoplie Ep. 282 Such a one searcheth the very heart and entrayles of the ground, for gold and silver. 1602 W. Fulbecke Pandectes Law Nations 73 The other entralles of the earth: as Pitch, Chalke, lyme. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 295, I will rend an Oake And peg thee in his knotty entrailes. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia vi. 215 The Riuer doth pierce many daies iourney the entrailes of that Country. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 263 The entrails of such utensils [pillow, or bolster] amongst the Romans were made but of dust. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 92 Even the sun..May have dark and smoaky entrails. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. ii. 12 The Monochord whose Entrals are curiously composed of Metals. 1772–82 Mason Eng. Garden ii. (R.), Nor thou, fell tube! Whose iron entrails hide the sulphurous blast. 1866 Hartwig Harmonies Nat. in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xcv. 4 Filtering through the entrails of the earth..the thermal springs gush forth. |
† b. of immaterial things. Obs.
| 1584 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 74 He must rippe vp the verie intrayles of our wordes, ere hee can fetche out this meaning. 1642 Rogers Naaman 867 Sinne..hath seated it selfe deeply in the entrals of thy soule. a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 324 To look into the entrals of this Sacrament. |
▪ II. † enˈtrail, n.2 Obs. rare.
[f. next vb.; cf. AF. entrail ‘reticulum’.]
The action of the verb entrail; a coil.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 16 Folds..stretcht now forth at length without entraile. |
▪ III. † enˈtrail, v. Obs.
Also 6 entrayl, intrail.
[ad. OF. entreillier, f. en- (see en-1) + treille trellis-work.]
trans. To entwine; interlace.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 856/2 A wreath of gold curiouslie wrought and intrailed. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 30 And over them spred a goodly wilde vine Entrailed with a wanton yvy twine. 1595 ― Prothalamion 25 A little wicker basket, Made of fine twigs, entrayled curiously. 1736 W. Thompson Epithalamium [Imitation of Spenser], Myrtle-girland green, Entrail'd with flowrets. |