gut

/gət/

/gət/

Other forms: guts; gutted; gutting

Your gut is part of your digestive system — it's where food goes after you eat it, to get broken down into nutrients and waste. The expression to "go with your gut" means to follow your instincts, how you feel in your belly.

Your gut is quite literally your intestines, although the word is frequently used for any part of your digestive system, especially your stomach. Eating too much ice cream can give you an ache in your gut. When gut is a verb, it means to clean the internal organs out of a fish or other animal you intend to eat, or to completely empty a building. Colloquially, if you have guts, you're very brave.

Definitions of gut

1. noun

   the part of the alimentary canal between the stomach and the anus
   synonyms: bowel, intestine

   types:

   small intestine

   the longest part of the alimentary canal; where digestion is completed

   large intestine

   beginning with the cecum and ending with the rectum; includes the cecum and the colon and the rectum; extracts moisture from food residues which are later excreted as feces

   duodenum

   the part of the small intestine between the stomach and the jejunum

   jejunum

   the part of the small intestine between the duodenum and the ileum

   ileum

   the part of the small intestine between the jejunum and the cecum

   colon

   the part of the large intestine between the cecum and the rectum; it extracts moisture from food residues before they are excreted

   type of:

   internal organ, viscus

   a main organ that is situated inside the body
2. verb

   empty completely; destroy the inside of
   “Gut the building”

   type of:

   empty

   make void or empty of contents
3. verb

   remove the guts of
   “gut the sheep”

   type of:

   remove, take, take away, withdraw

   remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract
4. noun

   a narrow channel or strait
   type of:

   channel

   a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels
5. noun

   a strong cord made from the intestines of sheep and used in surgery
   synonyms: catgut

   type of:

   cord

   a line made of twisted fibers or threads