entrails Hear it!

entrails Definition

en·trails (en′trālz, -trəlz)

  1. the inner organs of humans or animals; specif., the intestines; viscera; guts
  2. the inner parts of a thing

Etymology: ME & OFr entrailles < ML intralia < L interanea, pl. of interaneum, intestine < interaneus, internal < inter, between: see inter-

entrails Synonyms

entrails

n.

viscera, guts, insides; see intestines.

entrails Usage Examples

Preposition: of

victim: Classical writers also refer to divination by studying the entrails of sacrificial victims or the flight or speech of oracular birds.

Converse of object

  • examine: Witch doctors casting the runes or examining chicken entrails would probably be as useful.
  • read: Or maybe later, depending on how you read the entrails at the Web site.
  • use: It uses the entrails, in particular the intestines of human sacrifices.
  • remove: With a very sharp knife, slit the length of the belly of the fish and remove the entrails.

Adjective modifier

  • bloody: He imagined opening it and letting out a nexus of multi-coloured wires, or bloody entrails.
  • human: They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails.
  • very: My very entrails burn for want of drink, My bowels cry, Humber, give us some meat.

Modifies a noun

spill: Gooey, slimy entrails spill out onto the ground.

Noun used with modifier

  • chicken: Witch doctors casting the runes or examining chicken entrails would probably be as useful.
  • goat: A favorite method of divination was reading sheep or goat entrails.