belt out
Britishverb
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Knock unconscious; beat up, trounce; murder. For example, The police officer was accused of belting out the teenager before taking him to the station , or The hold-up man belted out the storekeeper and fled with the money . This expression originated in boxing. [ Slang ; c. 1940]
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Sing or play music very loudly, as in She belted out the national anthem before every game . [ Colloquial ; c. 1950]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Cassie shriek-squeals as she flicks Owen’s arm, and Nikhil starts belting out the school song, so off-key it must be on purpose.
From Literature
Fist clenched over his heart, Westlake belted out God Save the Queen with such gusto, that images were shared widely across the internet, spawning a hashtag #DoItLikeHarry.
From BBC
Imagine if, in “Evita,” audiences members were invited to sing back up on the balcony as Eva Perón belts out “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” accompanying her in her last manipulative hurrah.
From Los Angeles Times
That was the line belted out by the commentator as Joel Fearon stunned onlookers by running the 100m in under 10 seconds - breaking one of the most revered barriers in sport.
From BBC
We’ve seen animated animals belt out tunes in the “Sing” movies.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
