disembowel

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to remove the internal organs or contents from a person, animal, or object

   The cook disembowelled the fish before preparing it.

2. 2
   verb

   figurative: to tear out or expose the inside of something

   The child eagerly disembowelled the parcel to discover what it contained.

Formed from dis-, expressing removal or reversal, + embowel, 'to enclose in or place among the bowels.' Its literal anatomical sense readily extended to opening and emptying an object.

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