1The internal organ in which the major part of the digestion of food occurs, being (in humans and many mammals) a pear-shaped enlargement of the alimentary canal linking the oesophagus to the small intestine.

1. 1.1 Each of four stomachs in a ruminant (the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum).
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Like they hadn't noticed that even a calf, which has four stomachs, stops drinking milk after about eight weeks.
   • They hardly chew their food when first eaten, but swallow it into a special stomach where the food is partially digested.
   • Because cows are ruminants and ruminants have several stomachs.
   • The most familiar sources of methane are bacteria that live in bogs, lakes and the stomachs of ruminants like cows.
   • Detection of ergot alkaloids in stomach or rumen content is evidence of exposure.
   • The stomach of an adult moose can hold 112 pounds of food.
   • He dumped 33 cattle stomachs on the side of the road, earning him a court appearance and press coverage.
   • The cow needs a balance of physical ingredients in her rumen to get her to ruminate, to slow down the flow of food through the stomach and develop rumen wall muscle tone.
   • Animals which do this include cows, sheep and goats, and they all have four stomachs.
   • When calves are fed milk it is funnelled through the oesophageal groove to the true stomach by-passing the rumen.
   • He was interested in improving digestive processes within the rumen, the first of the four stomachs of ruminant animals, where cellulose is broken down by bacteria.
   • Newbold's group at the Institute of Rural Sciences in Wales has worked to produce organic acids to prevent methane buildup in cow stomachs.
   • To a small extent, this can also happen in the stomachs of ruminant animals, such as cows and sheep, but without the same detrimental effect as the man-made variety.
   • Both syphilis and Lyme disease are caused by these bacteria, and other species are important symbionts in the stomachs of cows and other ruminants.
   • The abomasum, known as the true stomach, normally lies on the floor of the abdomen, but can become filled with gas and rise to the top of the abdomen and become displaced.
   • More advanced artiodactyls, the ruminants, have evolved complex stomachs with three or four chambers.
2. 1.2 Any of a number of organs analogous to the stomach in lower animals.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Belemnite hooks are commonly found in the fossilized stomachs of marine reptiles that preyed upon them, such as ichthyosaurs.
   • The researchers also found the same beetles in the stomachs of the Pitohui and Ifrita bird species.
   • Their stomachs are the most acidic recorded for any vertebrate, allowing them to digest even the bones and shells of prey animals.
   • The male seahorse has a pouch on its stomach in which to carry babies - as many as 2,000 at a time.
   • Material remaining in the stomach can include food, mucus, or hair.
   • When they are brought up from the depths, gases in their bladders expand, popping the fish's stomachs and making their eyes bug out.
   • In both the case of the adult and the chick the stomach cannot be filled more than a certain amount.
   • But when some of the eels were caught, their stomachs turned out to be full of shrimp.
   • These animals do not ruminate (chew their cud), and their stomachs may be simple and one-chambered or have up to three chambers.
   • Small perch caught near the upstream edge of the salinity wedge in Richibucto Estuary had more copepods in their stomachs than larger perch caught further downriver.
   • We found this out when their stomachs proved to contain nothing but fish tails.
   • The prey, often of almost equal size to the anglerfish, fit neatly into the anglerfish's expandable stomachs, Drazen said.
   • One red algal species and two green algae occuffed in stomachs at all three sites: Polysiphonia sp., Ulva sp., and Enteromorpha sp.
   • Eggs and tadpoles of Rheobatrachus develop in the stomach of the mother.
   • In these studies, stomachs from 4th instar A. aegypti larvae were examined using both transmission and scanning electron microscopy.
   • Their stomachs are unusual, long and folded and with a unique gastric gland.
   • Wombats are strictly herbivorous grazers; they have a simple stomach and a short, broad cecum.
   • Over the years whalers have reported finding a high number of large squid beaks in the mammals' stomachs, pegging sperm whales as primary predators of large squid.
   • Like pangolins, aardvarks have a long, protrusile tongue and a gizzard-like stomach.
   • Sea stars feed by extruding their cardiac stomach over their prey, thus predation begins at the pinacocytic layer.
3. 1.3 The front part of the body between the chest and thighs; the belly.
   Blake hit him in the stomach

   Example sentencesExamples

   • He had obviously been working hard lately, as I looked at his flat, toned stomach.
   • I smiled at him for a second before dropping him with a hard front kick in his stomach.
   • I stood with my hands clasped in front of my stomach nervously.
   • Francesca stood at a distance from him, her hands tightly clasped in front of her stomach, feeling somewhat awkward.
   • He stood in front of me, looking down at his stomach and chest.
   • Furtive glances dissect her at thighs, hips, stomach, chest and face.
   • They arrived to find Stephen dead on the ground with multiple stab wounds to his stomach and chest.
   • I've got a slim body but my stomach and waist are still chubby.
   • With his fists, he punched his opponent continuously in the stomach and chest, not giving him the chance to regain his breath.
   • Shallow, I know, but I had two small children then and was in mourning for my lost stomach and thighs.
   • A woman who stabbed a former boyfriend three times in the stomach while high on drink and drugs has narrowly escaped a jail sentence.
   • They then folded their hands together in front of their stomachs and stood there like statues.
   • They then chased the 25-year-old victim through the house before stabbing him in the stomach and thigh.
   • We found an adult male trapped with mud up to his waist area with this log right here that was across his stomach and chest area.
   • Her drawn up thighs pushed hard against her stomach and chest.
   • If stomach discomfort occurs after eating cold food, place something warm on the stomach such as hot towels.
   • My favourite part of a guy's body is his stomach and then his chest.
   • Instead he wrapped his arm around the front of my stomach and pulled me closer.
   • When first learning to breathe properly, students should put their hands together in front of their stomach.
   • Electrodes are placed on the stomach, bottom and thighs and two electrical currents switched on.

   Synonyms

   paunch, pot belly, beer belly, girth

   informal beer gut, pot, tummy, spare tyre, middle-aged spread

   Scottish informal kyte

   North American informal bay window

   dated, humorous corporation
4. 1.4in singular The stomach viewed as the seat of hunger, nausea, anxiety, or other unsettling feelings.
   Virginia had a sick feeling in her stomach

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Her stomach tightened when she reached over to brush some hair from the other girl's face and saw that those blue eyes were clouded over.
   • My stomach tightened and I grabbed tightly onto the wooden armrest.
   • After all, everyone needs food, and sooner or later, the stomach will rule.
   • A lump grew in the pit of Wil's stomach and his mind churned in anger.
   • Her stomach tightened at his pronouncement but she got to her feet and approached the Captain.
   • Amanda's stomach tightened as she wished her friend good luck and bid her good night.
   • My stomach tightened again, but this time, a different type of fear struck me.
   • His stomach tightens in a knot as he stumbles down the hall towards his bedroom.
   • He stood staring into the night, hand on his sword hilt, stomach knotted and mind racing.
   • Her stomach tightened and she felt extremely uncomfortable about the way he said ‘fun’.
   • His stomach tightened in anticipation, knowing he was finally going to talk to the girl.
   • My stomach tightened as I saw the corners of her mouth lift into a smile.
   • Her stomach tightened at the thought of those revolting weapons.
   • The urgency in his tone caused her stomach to tighten and she looked up at him from beneath her lashes.
   • I paced restlessly around my small cell, stomach twisting with anxiety, and hunger.
   • His stomach tightened, thinking about that photograph he had unfortunately seen.
   • Her stomach tightened as she realized that she had finally arrived at a decision.
   • The wheels seemed to be turning in his mind and Sally's stomach lurched with every passing second he kept silent.
   • My stomach tightened, and I thought of leaving him outside, but he'd already seen me peering at him through the window.
   • Her stomach tightened but she tried to keep a smile on her face.

2in singular, usually with negative An appetite for food or drink.

1. 2.1 A desire or inclination for something involving conflict or difficulty.
   the teams proved to have no stomach for a fight

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Others have no stomach for killing, and practise taxidermy merely as an art.
   • Within the political establishment, there is no stomach for either course.
   • There are musicians with strong voices who are articulate and intelligent and who I know in private have no stomach for war who have not come forward.
   • He had no stomach for war, and was not a war leader.
   • But behind the scenes there is no stomach for a fight.
   • If you have no stomach for plainsong and church polyphony, steer clear of this recording.
   • Yet the Western powers had no stomach for imposing an oil embargo, the one non-military step that promised eventual results.
   • The world did not seem the same place anymore, and he still had no stomach for magic.
   • To me it smacks of a man who, to be brutally honest, has no stomach for a fight.
   • There is no stomach for top-up fees in my institution, and I do not detect any among my colleagues.
   • He told of participating in strikes that he and his co-workers had no stomach for.
   • If that sounds entertaining - even for those of us with no stomach for heavy metal - it should.
   • If he continually bemoaned such circumstances he would find himself out of tune with his own support, who have no stomach for even genuine excuses.
   • The swoop on Smith was in the first place a signal that they had not quietly dropped an investigation which many believed they had no stomach for.
   • DARPA had no stomach for another privacy controversy and killed the project.
   • Our upcoming generations will have no stomach for sacrifice, discipline, or enduring burdens.
   • The AFL-CIO is quietly packing up its local support operation, sensing that SAG has no stomach for a real fight.
   • Those with no stomach for equities might want to consider bonds, especially Mexican corporates.
   • They have no stomach for a fight, because they have no ability to win one.
   • We won't go through with it because we have no stomach for the series of secondary decisions we're going to have to make after we've made the big one.

   Synonyms

   appetite, taste, hunger

1Consume (food or drink) without feeling or being sick.

1. 1.1 Endure or accept (an obnoxious thing or person)
   I can't stomach the self-righteous attitude of some managers

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Howard's government ‘cannot stomach the truth of their policy failings’.
   • It simply cannot stomach the sense of some form of autonomy.
   • She recently quit as an assistant manager at a trading company because she could no longer stomach the attitude of her male colleagues.
   • They cannot stomach the truth of their policy failings.
   • From soundings I've taken inside the Labour Party, people cannot stomach a war and some are going to leave the party.
   • A quiet man, he stomached the suffering and gave thanks we all survived.
   • This was the man who left the FNM because he didn't feel that he could stomach the corruption, and yet this was the party that he wanted to lead a couple of years ago.
   • For any diver who can stomach the risks, Bushman's Hole is world-class.
   • For those of you who can still stomach watching baseball after all that's happened, there is some compelling drama to be played out in the coming weeks.
   • Ideologies that affirm a set of basic truths, such as feminism and classical or neo-Marxism, cannot stomach postmodernism.
   • If you cannot stomach a breach of decorum when justified outrage erupts then your support is nearly worthless anyway.
   • Investors of any age who cannot stomach market volatility also tend to have a higher-cash portion of their portfolios.
   • If so, it might be worth stomaching your losses and switching out of your tech fund to something less risky.
   • I suspect many, like me and my family, went because we cannot stomach the idea that we are being bounced into war for the sake of political expediency.
   • Even for those who do not understand rural life and still cannot stomach the realities of gamekeeping, it is hard to contest that a problem exists with raptor numbers.
   • Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
   • It's about a recovering paedophile and I don't think people could stomach it - especially as it doesn't set out to explain, only portray.
   • What if you want a Boxer, but cannot stomach the thought of housebreaking, chewed up shoes and boundless puppy energy?
   • Could she stomach the knowledge of what he'd endured since he was taken from his boarding school dormitory?
   • Boys had to endure this to prove they could stomach the hardships of hunting.

   Synonyms

   tolerate, put up with, take, stand, endure, accept, swallow, bear, support, brook, submit to, countenance

   Scottish thole

   informal stick, hack, abide

   British informal wear, be doing with

   archaic suffer