tripe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the prepared stomach lining of a cow or another ruminant, eaten as food

   The traditional stew combines strips of tripe with beans and a rich tomato broth.

2. 2
   noun

   informal and disapproving: speech, writing, or ideas regarded as worthless nonsense

   The editor dismissed the article as sentimental tripe unsupported by evidence.

3. 3
   noun

   archaic or humorous: the entrails or belly

   The grotesque illustration showed the creature's tripe spilling from its wounded body.

From Middle English tripe and Old French tripe, 'entrails,' of uncertain deeper origin and perhaps related to Spanish tripa. The contemptuous figurative sense treats bad speech or writing as worthless offal.

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