belly

[bel-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR belly ON THESAURUS.COM

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 belly

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

Examples from the Web for belly

Contemporary Examples of belly

She attends hip-hop and belly dance classes (known as Arabic dance in Iran) just to shine more at parties.
Iran’s Becoming a Footloose Nation as Dance Lessons Spread
IranWire
January 2, 2015
He holds them on his belly and looks at them with a magnifying glass, studying possible escape routes.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
All you could see was the area from her belly button to her knees.
Will the Vatican Finally Hold This Kansas City Bishop Accountable?
Barbie Latza Nadeau
October 2, 2014
A major surgery requiring plastic mesh sewn into her belly saved her life.
Why Your Doctor Feels Like a 'Beaten Dog'
Daniela Drake
September 11, 2014
When you crush an insect, you have all these long worms uncoiling from the belly.
Vampires without Glitter or Girl Problems: Inside Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Strain’
Andrew Romano
July 14, 2014

Historical Examples of belly

Your chattel is for growing corn, not for corn in a hog's belly.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
But a ridiculous and childish fable of the belly and the rest of the members.
The Praise of Folly
Desiderius Erasmus
Another spends all he can rap and run on his belly, to be the more hungry after it.
The Praise of Folly
Desiderius Erasmus
The Vaisyas, who constitute the third caste, issued from Brahma's belly.
The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
Nicolas Notovitch
They called down to Madame Gaudron to ask her if she could squeeze her belly through.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for belly

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 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.

"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 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 belly

belly

see go belly up.