sb. pl. [L. viscera internal organs, pl. of viscus VISCUS2. Cf. It. viscere, Sp. and Pg. visceras, F. viscères.]
1. Anat. The soft contents of the principal cavities of the body; esp. the internal organs of the trunk; the entrails or bowels together with the heart, liver, lungs, etc.
1651. Biggs, New Disp., ¶ 174. Exhausting the stock of aliment from the vasa and viscera.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 545. Also lifting up the Viscera of the lower Belly.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 111. For in the Intentions, the Seat of the Complaint is most commonly in the Viscera.
1750. Phil. Trans., XLVII. 83. [It is] to keep them from touching the abdominal viscera of this animal.
1801. Med. Jrnl., V. 500. Instancing its powerful effects in obstructions of the viscera, especially in liver cases.
1845. Budd, Dis. Liver, 32. Great stress is laid on the case of the mollusca, animals whose liver is generally immense in proportion to their other viscera.
1878. W. H. Dall, Later Preh. Man, 18. The viscera had evidently been removed, but the muscular and cutaneous tissues were in tolerable preservation.
† b. fig. = BOWEL sb.1 3. Obs.
1652. N. Culverwel, Treat., II. vi. (1661), 141. Do you think now that God will trust these with his more special mercies, with his viscera and tender mercies?
2. transf. The interior; the inner parts: BOWEL sb.1 4.
1709. T. Robinson, Vind. Mosaick Syst., 41. If the Atheist will venture himself into the Interior Viscera or Bowels of the Earth.
1828. Lights & Shades, I. 210. I dived into the viscera of Newgate-market.
