gut
noun
the alimentary canal, especially between the pylorus and the anus, or some portion of it.
gut
1 American
[guht]
/ gʌt /
noun
-
guts
plural
-
the alimentary canal, especially between the pylorus and the anus, or some portion of it.
-
guts,
-
bowels or entrails.
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Informal. courage and fortitude; nerve; determination; stamina.
Climbing that cliff takes a lot of guts.
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the inner working parts of a machine or device.
The mechanic had the guts of the refrigerator laid out on the kitchen floor.
-
-
the belly; stomach; abdomen.
-
the substance forming the case of the intestine; intestinal tissue or fiber.
sheep's gut.
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a preparation of the intestines of an animal, used for various purposes, as for violin strings, tennis rackets, or fishing lines.
-
the silken substance taken from a silkworm killed when about to spin its cocoon, used in making snells for fishhooks.
-
a narrow passage, as a channel of water or a defile between hills.
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Slang. Also gut course snap course.
verb (used with object)
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guts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gutted,
past participle, past
-
gutting
present participle
-
to take out the guts or entrails of; disembowel.
-
to destroy the interior of.
Fire gutted the building.
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to plunder (a house, city, etc.) of contents.
Invaders gutted the village.
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to remove the vital or essential parts from.
The prisoner's letters were gutted by heavy censorship.
adjective
idioms
GUT
2
American
Physics.
gut
1
British
/ ɡʌt /
noun
-
-
the lower part of the alimentary canal; intestine
-
the entire alimentary canal
-
-
(often plural) the bowels or entrails, esp of an animal
-
slang the belly; paunch
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See catgut
-
a silky fibrous substance extracted from silkworms, used in the manufacture of fishing tackle
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a narrow channel or passage
-
informal (plural) courage, willpower, or daring; forcefulness
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informal (plural) the essential part
the guts of a problem
-
informal to make an intense effort
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informal to be extremely angry with someone
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informal to dislike a person very strongly
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informal to work very hard
verb
-
to remove the entrails from (fish, etc)
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(esp of fire) to destroy the inside of (a building)
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to plunder; despoil
the raiders gutted the city
-
to take out the central points of (an article), esp in summary form
adjective
GUT
2
British
/ ɡʌt /
acronym
gut
1
Scientific
/ gŭt /
-
The intestine of a vertebrate animal.
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The alimentary canal of an invertebrate animal.
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The tube in a vertebrate embryo that later develops into the alimentary canal, lungs, and liver.
GUT
2
Scientific
gut
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gutsimple
-
gutssimple
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have guttedperfect
-
has guttedperfect
-
am guttingprogressive
-
are guttingprogressive
-
is guttingprogressive
-
have been guttingperfect progressive
-
has been guttingperfect progressive
Past
-
guttedsimple
-
had guttedperfect
-
was guttingprogressive
-
were guttingprogressive
-
had been guttingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gut
First recorded before 1000; Middle English gut, guttes (plural), Old English guttas (plural), akin to gēotan “to pour”
Explanation
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.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Writer-director Guy Nattiv saves a gut punch for the final seconds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Then it was Suzann Pettersen's gut wrenching and ultimately successful putt on the final green at the Scottish course that decided the outcome.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Using an analytical strategy known as 'reverse ecology,' the team showed that individual bacterial species can contain several evolutionarily distinct populations, each adapted to different conditions inside the gut.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
The researchers therefore asked whether they could identify more biologically meaningful bacterial groups by looking for evidence of adaptation and specialization within the gut.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
There were always gut sicknesses and fevers sweeping through the camp.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
“You manage a baseball game with your EYES, HEART, & GUT as well as your BRAIN,” Blevins posted.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 27, 2020
If the GUT approach is right, the average decay time in question is far longer than the age of the universe itself.
From Economist ● Jan. 11, 2018
The model of the car was unknown, according to the police call, but its plates included the letters and numbers GUT 18053.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 15, 2015
This transition from GUT to electroweak is an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking, in which conditions spontaneously evolved to a point where the forces were no longer unified, breaking that symmetry.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
In Austrian spy-letters, now and afterwards, they are described to us as "GUT PREUSSISCH;" "strong for Prussia, the most of them, even in Dresden itself."
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 17 by Thomas Carlyle
With rare exception, “Primetime” doesn’t have the guts to look its predators in the eye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
In the mouse experiment, none of the human Roseburia species permanently colonized the animals' guts.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Wholesale prices were flat in July and inflation pressures in the guts of the economy eased, adding to recent evidence of a slowdown in the rising cost of living.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
No lack of guts and enjoyed their first-ever World Cup goal.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Even worse smells wafted from the waterway that cradled the Yards’ southern edge, a festering stew of blood and guts that bubbled like a cauldron.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Like that gutted TV cabinet, his sad eyes are a window into the sensitive boy inside the grown man.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
An 84-year-old woman grabbed her pet dog and budgie before leaving her much-loved home as it became gutted by fire, her granddaughter said.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Jenrick described this as an attempt at "modest savings" gutted by backbenchers.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Images released by the Turkish media showed the boat was completely gutted by the fire.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
It’s the same house, really—the one on Dart—but it’s been gutted, expanded, tripled.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Damon’s Odysseus is numbed by the massacre of Troy’s civilians; Fiennes’ hates himself for leading the best men of Ithaca to their death, gutting his own community in the heedless destruction of another.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
It brings the season to a close for Richie Murphy's side as they failed to make the United Rugby Championship play-offs in a gutting eight days for the Irish province.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
“When you actually look at the totality of what’s being put forward, we are seeing a total gutting of a resource base,” she told NOTUS.
From Slate ● May 2, 2026
All-American Yaxel Lendeborg, gutting out a knee sprain, added 13.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
“After you gut a few thousand chickens,” Galen said dryly, “you’ll either get really good at it, or you’ll stop gutting chickens.”
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
