Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - gut

~1 n 1 »COURAGE« guts informal the courage and determination you need to do something difficult or unpleasant  (Sonia succeeded through sheer guts and determination. | have the guts to do sth)  (No-one had the guts to tell Paul what a mistake he was making.) 2 »BODY PARTS« a) guts the organs inside your body b) the tube through which food passes from your stomach 3 gut reaction/feeling/instinct etc informal a reaction or feeling that you are sure is right, although you cannot give a reason for it  (He had a gut feeling that Sarah was lying.) 4 hate sb's guts informal to hate someone very much 5 sweat/slog your guts out informal to work very hard 6 at gut level if you know something at gut level, you feel sure about it, though you could not give a reason  (She knew at gut level that he was guilty.) 7 »STRING« a type of strong string made from the intestine of an animal  (- see also catgut) 8 I'll have sb's guts for garters BrE informal used to say that you would like to punish someone severely for something they have done  (- see also beer belly, bust a gut bust1 (3), spill your guts spill1 (4)) ~2 v gutted, gutting 1 usually passive to completely destroy the inside of a building, especially by fire  (The kitchen was completely gutted.) 2 to remove the organs from inside a fish or animal in order to prepare it for cooking 3 to change something by removing some of the most important or central parts  (gutting the system from the inside so as to restructure it completely)  (- see also gutted)