belly
noun
- abdomen
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L330908 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbɛli/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *bʰólǵʰis Proto-Germanic *balgiz Proto-West Germanic *balgi Old English bielġ Middle English bely English belly Inherited from Middle English bely, beli, bali, below, belew, balyw, from Old English bielġ (“bag, pouch, bulge”), from Proto-West Germanic *balgi, *balgu, from Proto-Germanic *balgiz, *balguz (“skin, hide, bellows, bag”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell, blow up”). Cognate with Dutch balg, German Balg, Danish bælg, Old Irish bolg, Welsh bol. Doublet of bellows, blague, bulge, and budge. See also bellows. For the belly — bellows relation, compare typologically Macedonian мев (mev, “abdomen, belly; bellows”). Also compare Ancient Greek φῦσα (phûsa, “bellows; bladder; ...”), Latin venter — vēsīca, Russian пу́зо (púzo) — пузы́рь (puzýrʹ), пузырёк (puzyrjók).
- The abdomen (especially a fat one).
“You've grown a belly over Christmas! Time to join the gym again.”
- stomach (an organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion)
“My belly was full of wine.”
- uterus (a reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth)
“Before I formed thee in the bellie, I knew thee; […]”
- The lower fuselage of an airplane.
“There was no heat, and we shivered in the belly of the plane.”
- The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part).
“the belly of a flask, muscle, violin, sail, or ship”
“[…] I cried by reason of mine affliction vnto the Lord, and hee heard mee; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voyce.”
- The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part).
- The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part).
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *bʰólǵʰis Proto-Germanic *balgiz Proto-West Germanic *balgi Old English bielġ Middle English bely English belly Inherited from Middle English bely, beli, bali, below, belew, balyw, from Old English bielġ (“bag, pouch, bulge”), from Proto-West Germanic *balgi, *balgu, from Proto-Germanic *balgiz, *balguz (“skin, hide, bellows, bag”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell, blow up”). Cognate with Dutch balg, German Balg, Danish bælg, Old Irish bolg, Welsh bol. Doublet of bellows, blague, bulge, and budge. See also bellows. For the belly — bellows relation, compare typologically Macedonian мев (mev, “abdomen, belly; bellows”). Also compare Ancient Greek φῦσα (phûsa, “bellows; bladder; ...”), Latin venter — vēsīca, Russian пу́зо (púzo) — пузы́рь (puzýrʹ), пузырёк (puzyrjók).
- To position one’s belly; to move on one’s belly.
“Bellying forward to the edge of the clearing, he found Hans, lying on his face, feathered with arrows like a porcupine.”
- To swell and become protuberant; to bulge or billow.
“The Pow'r appeaſ'd, with Winds ſuffic'd the Sail, / The bellying Canvaſs ſtrutted with the Gale; […]”
“The halliards twanged against the tops, the bunting bellied broad,”
- To cause to swell out; to fill.
“Your breath of full consent bellied his sails; […]”
“A breeze which had crossed a thousand miles of wheat-lands bellied her taffeta skirt in a line so graceful, so full of animation and moving beauty, that the heart of a chance watcher on the lower road tightened to wistfulness over her quality of suspended freedom.”