Make someone's stomach turn

[Stevenloan]

"Alex has been my constant. The one thing that would never leave my side. No matter what was going on in our lives. He loves me no matter how much of a dick I am. He’s the only one who cares enough about me to know I have a problem with food, and who tries to help me.

I’ve spent the past few days, against my better judgement, feeling things I’d never let myself feel for Alex. I've learned things such as: I adore him. I want to protect him. He makes me feel safe. He makes me smile. He makes me feel peaceful. I want to be close to him. I love his laugh. Looking into his eyes makes my stomach turn. I think I always knew that I loved him. I just didn’t know that feeling was what love was meant to be like."


- Hi guys! An online dictionary says "to make someone's stomach turn" means "to makes someone feel ill or uncomfortable usually because it is offensive or disgusting". But I don't think this meaning fits this situation. Does it have another meaning?

Thanks so much!

StevenLoan

[trolley]

. But I don't think this meaning fits this situation. Does it have another meaning?

I think it must have another meaning, at least, to the writer. There are physiological changes caused by extreme emotion that can be felt in the gut. Nervousness can cause "butterflies in the stomach", fear can cause your "stomach to flip" and dread can cause your "stomach to drop". I've only ever heard/used "turned my stomach" to mean nausea caused by disgust or revulsion. None of these expressions should be confused with "feeling something in your gut", which means to know something instinctively.

[Erik_Kowal]

I suspect the writer was going for the "butterflies in the stomach" sense that Trolley mentioned but picked the wrong idiom to express it with.

[Stevenloan]

trolley and Erik : Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it.

StevenLoan