bowels

noun[plural only]5

1. •
   The intestines.
2. •
   The deepest or innermost part.

   • At length, when the last pint is casked, and all is cool, then the great hatchways are unsealed, the bowels of the ship are thrown open, and down go the casks to their final rest in the sea. — 1851
3. •
   The concept or quality that defines something at its very core.

   • the project’s bowels
4. •
   Compassion, sympathy.

   • Have you no Bovvels, no Tenderness, my dear Lucy, to see a Husband in these Circumstances? — 1728
5. •
   (no longer used) The body as the source of offspring.

   • And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? — 1611