bowel
bowel — noun
- bowelsingular
- bowelsplural
1. the long, soft tube inside your body, below the stomach, where food is broken do
the long, soft tube inside your body, below the stomach, where food is broken down further and waste is gathered before leaving the body.
Roya went to hospital after sharp pain in her lower bowel kept her awake all night.
anatomical location: lower / upper bowel
The surgeon removed a small tumour from Gabriel's bowel during a two-hour operation.
collocation: tumour / cancer of the bowel
Eating more vegetables and drinking water can keep your bowel healthy.
Doctors found that Yan was born with a twist in his small bowel.
Long-term stress can upset the bowel and cause pain or bloating.
文法句型
the + bowel(s)
in the bowel
用法筆記
Often appears in compounds describing parts or conditions of this organ: small bowel, large bowel, bowel cancer, bowel disease. Plural 'bowels' refers to the same organ as a whole, not to a quantity.
常見錯誤
2. in clinical talk between medical staff and patients, the act of releasing solid
in clinical talk between medical staff and patients, the act of releasing solid waste from the body — heard mainly in fixed phrases such as 'open the bowels' or 'move the bowels'.
The nurse asked Beatrix whether she had opened her bowels since the operation.
fixed phrase: open one's bowels
Patients on this medicine often cannot move their bowels for two or three days.
fixed phrase: move one's bowels
Doctor Rohan wrote in the notes that the child had not emptied his bowels for a week.
If you cannot open your bowels at all for several days, please tell the ward staff.
- bowel movement
the noun phrase commonly used by patients and doctors alike
- defecation
very formal medical term
文法句型
open one's bowels
move one's bowels
用法筆記
Only appears with a small set of verbs ('open', 'move', 'empty') and a possessive ('your', 'her', 'his'). Outside hospital and clinic talk, English speakers normally say 'go to the toilet' or 'have a bowel movement'.
常見錯誤
3. the part of a place that lies furthest inside, away from the surface or entrance
the part of a place that lies furthest inside, away from the surface or entrance — used in a literary way, for example about the inside of a ship, a building, or the earth.
Lakan crawled down into the bowels of the old wooden ship to fix the engine.
fixed phrase: the bowels of + ship / building
Hot, dark water rushed up from the bowels of the earth and filled the cave.
literary: bowels of the earth
The bowels of the museum hide ancient pots that visitors never see.
Imani led the children deep into the bowels of the cave with a small torch.
- surface
the outer layer, opposite of the deep inside
文法句型
the bowels of + noun
用法筆記
Almost always 'the bowels of [something large]' — a ship, a mountain, the earth, a big building. Singular 'bowel' is not used in this meaning. Common in adventure stories and news writing about disasters.