belly

[bel-ee]

noun, plural bel·lies.

the front or under part of a vertebrate body from the breastbone to the pelvis, containing the abdominal viscera; the abdomen.

the stomach with its adjuncts.

appetite or capacity for food; gluttony.

the womb.

the inside or interior of anything: the belly of a ship.

a protuberant or bulging surface of anything: the belly of a flask.

Anatomy. the fleshy part of a muscle.

the front, inner, or under surface or part, as distinguished from the back.

the front surface of a violin or similar instrument.

a bulge on a vertical surface of fresh concrete.

the underpart of the fuselage of an airplane.

verb (used with object), bel·lied, bel·ly·ing.

to fill out; swell: Wind bellied the sails.

verb (used without object), bel·lied, bel·ly·ing.

to swell out: Sails bellying in the wind.

to crawl on one's belly: soldiers bellying through a rice paddy.

Verb Phrases

belly up, Informal.

to approach closely, especially until one is in physical contact: to belly up to a bar.
to curry favor from: Would you have gotten the promotion if you hadn't bellied up to the boss?

Idioms

go/turn belly up, Informal. to come to an end; die; fail: After years of barely surviving on donations, the neighborhood social club finally went belly up.

Origin of belly

before 950; Middle English bely, Old English belig, belg bag, skin; cognate with German Balg, Gothic balgs, Old Norse belgr sack; akin to Welsh bol(a), boly, Irish bolg sack, belly, bellows, Serbo-Croatian blàzina, Latvian pabàlsts, Avestan barəziš-, Persian bālish cushion

Related formsbel·ly·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bellies

tank, abdomen, insides, tummy, gut, pelvis, corporation, paunch, pot, intestines, venter, breadbasket

Examples from the Web for bellies

Contemporary Examples of bellies

They drink too much, their bellies distend, and most possess a predilection for siliconed blondes and themed belt buckles.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Rednecks and Their Unjustly Unsung Kin
Allison Glock
August 23, 2014
But it was not just their bellies that needed feeding—their minds and hearts did, too.
Back to Afghanistan
Magsie Hamilton-Little
October 6, 2011
However, de-miners crawling on their bellies to identify, excavate, and destroy mines remain the default modus operandi.
Diana Landmine Conspiracies Return
Martyn Gregory
June 6, 2010

Historical Examples of bellies

It isn't gowns that lovers love, but what bellies out the gowns.
The Dramatic Values in Plautus
Wilton Wallace Blancke
All other means have been tried, short of crawling on our bellies to these Dutch hinds!
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
What would all you parsons do to clothe your backs and feed your bellies?
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2
Henry Fielding
Why, she asked, were men given brains if they made gods of their bellies?
The Education of Eric Lane
Stephen McKenna
They wait in the stables, and sit along the racks and under the horses' bellies.
The Stark Munro Letters
J. Stark Munro

British Dictionary definitions for bellies

belly

noun plural -lies

the lower or front part of the body of a vertebrate, containing the intestines and other abdominal organs; abdomenRelated adjective: ventral

the stomach, esp when regarded as the seat of gluttony

a part, line, or structure that bulges deeplythe belly of a sail

the inside or interior cavity of somethingthe belly of a ship

the front or inner part or underside of something

the surface of a stringed musical instrument over which the strings are stretched

the thick central part of certain muscles

Australian and NZ the wool from a sheep's belly

tanning the portion of a hide or skin on the underpart of an animal

archery the surface of the bow next to the bowstring

archaic the womb

go belly up informal to die, fail, or come to an end

verb -lies, -lying or -lied

to swell out or cause to swell out; bulge

Word Origin for belly

Old English belig; related to Old High German balg, Old Irish bolg sack, Sanskrit barhi chaff

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bellies

belly

"to swell out," 1620s, from belly (n.). Related: Bellied; bellying. Old English belgan meant "to be or become angry" (a figurative sense). A comparable Greek verb-from-noun, gastrizein, meant "to hit (someone) in the belly."

belly

Old English belg, bylg (West Saxon), bælg (Anglian) "leather bag, purse, bellows," from Proto-Germanic *balgiz "bag" (cf. Old Norse belgr "bag, bellows," bylgja "billow," Gothic balgs "wineskin"), from PIE *bholgh-, from root *bhelgh- "to swell," an extension of *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole). Meaning shifted to "body" (late 13c.), then focused to "abdomen" (mid-14c.). Meaning "bulging part or concave surface of anything" is 1590s. The West Germanic root had a figurative or extended sense of "anger, arrogance" (cf. Old English bolgenmod "enraged;" belgan (v.) "to become angry").

Indo-European languages commonly use the same word for both the external belly and the internal (stomach, womb, etc.), but the distinction of external and internal is somewhat present in English belly/stomach; Greek gastr- (see gastric) in classical language denoted the paunch or belly, while modern science uses it only in reference to the stomach as an organ. Fastidious avoidance of belly in speech and writing (compensated for by stretching the senses of imported stomach and abdomen, baby-talk tummy and misappropriated midriff) began late 18c. and the word was banished from Bibles in many early 19c. editions. Belly punch (n.) is attested from 1811.

bellies in Medicine

belly

[bĕl′ē]

n.

abdomen

The stomach.

The womb; the uterus.

The bulging, central part of a muscle.venter

Idioms and Phrases with bellies

belly

see go belly up.