stomached

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of stomach.

   The crew stomached the rough seas for three long days.

   Voters have not stomached the steep tax increases.

   Note

   Like any regular verb, stomach uses one -ed form for two jobs. It stands alone as the past (she stomached the insult) and follows have as the participle (they had stomached enough). Today it means only putting up with something. Older writing could use it almost the opposite way: to resent, to be angry, or to turn someone's stomach. So a character who stomached a slight may have been holding it against someone.

2. 2
   adjectivein compounds

   With the kind or number of stomachs indicated by the other part of the compound.

   Ruminant animals are four-stomached, which lets them ferment plant matter efficiently.

   Only the strong-stomached volunteers stayed to clean up after the flood.

   Note

   It never stands alone. A first element says how many stomachs or what kind, and a hyphen joins them: four-stomached, strong-stomached. Number words keep the compound anatomical, as with ruminants. Quality words make it figurative, describing someone's tolerance for the unpleasant. That is the same idea of enduring carried by the past of the verb.

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