Entrail
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 singular of entrails; an internal organ of an animal. form-of, singular, usually
"She might even bust an entrail if she went on a little farther in the official code"
- 2 Entanglement; fold. archaic
""About her cursed head, whose folds displaid / Were stretcht now forth at length without entraile.""
- 1 To interweave or bind. archaic
"And in the thickest covert of that shade / There was a pleasant arbour, not by art / But of the trees' own inclination made, / With wanton ivy twine entrailed athwart, / And eglantine and caprifole among, / Fashioned above within their inmost part / That neither Phoebus' beams could through them throng / Nor AEolus' sharp blast could work them any wrong."
- 2 To outline in black.
"A cross entrailed."
Example
More examples"And in the thickest covert of that shade / There was a pleasant arbour, not by art / But of the trees' own inclination made, / With wanton ivy twine entrailed athwart, / And eglantine and caprifole among, / Fashioned above within their inmost part / That neither Phoebus' beams could through them throng / Nor AEolus' sharp blast could work them any wrong."
Etymology
From en- + trail.
From Middle English entraille, from Old French entraille (compare modern French entrailles), from Late Latin intrālia, modification of Latin intrānea, contraction of interāneum (“gut, intestine”), substantive of interāneus (“internal, inward”).
Related phrases
More for "entrail"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.