Belly

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: bel=ly

CIDE DICTIONARY

Belly, n. [OE. bali, bely, AS. belg, bælg, bælig, bag, bellows, belly; akin to Icel. belgr bag, bellows, Sw. bälg, Dan. bælg, D. & G. balg, cf. W. bol the paunch or belly, dim. boly, Ir. bolg. Cf. Bellows, Follicle, Fool, Bilge.].

•  That part of the human body which extends downward from the breast to the thighs, and contains the bowels, or intestines; the abdomen.  [1913 Webster]

  " Formerly all the splanchnic or visceral cavities were called bellies; -- the lower belly being the abdomen; the middle belly, the thorax; and the upper belly, the head."  Dunglison.  [1913 Webster]
•  The under part of the body of animals, corresponding to the human belly.  [1913 Webster]

  "Underneath the belly of their steeds."  [1913 Webster]
•  The womb.  [1913 Webster]

  "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee."  [1913 Webster]
•  The part of anything which resembles the human belly in protuberance or in cavity; the innermost part; as, the belly of a flask, muscle, sail, ship.  [1913 Webster]

  "Out of the belly of hell cried I."  [1913 Webster]
•  The hollow part of a curved or bent timber, the convex part of which is the back.  [1913 Webster]

Belly doublet, a doublet of the 16th century, hanging down so as to cover the belly. Shak. -- Belly fretting, the chafing of a horse's belly with a girth. Johnson. -- Belly timber, food. [Ludicrous] Prior. -- Belly worm, a worm that breeds or lives in the belly (stomach or intestines). Johnson.

Belly, v. t. 

 To cause to swell out; to fill.  [1913 Webster]
"Your breath of full consent bellied his sails."  [1913 Webster]

Belly, v. i. 

 To swell and become protuberant, like the belly; to bulge.  [1913 Webster]
"The bellying canvas strutted with the gale."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Belly, n. & v.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 the part of the human body below the chest, containing the stomach and bowels.
2 the stomach, esp. representing the body's need for food.
3 the front of the body from the waist to the groin.
4 the underside of a four-legged animal.
5 a a cavity or bulging part of anything. b the surface of an instrument of the violin family, across which the strings are placed.
--v.tr. & intr. (-ies, -ied) (often foll. by out) swell or cause to swell; bulge.

Idiom

belly button colloq. the navel. belly-dance an oriental dance performed by a woman, involving voluptuous movements of the belly. belly-dancer a woman who performs belly-dances, esp. professionally. belly-dancing the performance of belly-dances. belly-landing a crash-landing of an aircraft on the underside of the fuselage, without lowering the undercarriage. belly-laugh a loud unrestrained laugh.

Etymology

OE belig (orig. = bag) f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Belly

abdomen, abomasum, ascender, back, bag, balloon, bastard type, bay window, beard, bed, bedrock, beerbelly, belly out, bevel, bilge, billow, black letter, body, bottom, bottom side, bouge, breadbasket, breech, bug, bulge, buttocks, cap, capital, case, convexity, counter, craw, crop, cylindricality, descender, diaphragm, dilate, distend, downside, em, embonpoint, en, face, fat-faced type, feet, first stomach, font, fundament, gizzard, globosity, globularity, goggle, groove, gullet, gut, hardpan, honeycomb stomach, italic, kishkes, letter, ligature, logotype, lower case, lower side, lowest layer, lowest level, majuscule, manyplies, maw, midriff, minuscule, nether side, nethermost level, nick, omasum, orbicularity, paunch, pi, pica, point, pooch, pop, pot, potbelly, potgut, pouch, pout, print, psalterium, pusgut, rennet bag, reticulum, rock bottom, roman, rotundity, rotundness, round out, roundness, rumen, sans serif, script, second stomach, shank, shoulder, small cap, small capital, spare tire, sphericality, sphericalness, sphericity, spheroidicity, spheroidity, stamp, stem, stomach, substratum, swagbelly, swell, swell out, third stomach, tum-tum, tummy, type, type body, type class, type lice, typecase, typeface, typefounders, typefoundry, underbelly, underlayer, underneath, underside, upper case, venter, ventripotence

ROGET THESAURUS

Belly

Interiority

N interiority, inside, interior, interspace, subsoil, substratum, intrados, contents, substance, pith, marrow, backbone, heart, bosom, breast, abdomen, vitals, viscera, entrails, bowels, belly, intestines, guts, chitterings, womb, lap, penetralia, recesses, innermost recesses, cave, interior, internal, inner, inside, inward, intraregarding, inmost, innermost, deep seated, gut, intestine, intestinal, inland, subcutaneous, abdominal, coeliac, endomorphic, interstitial, inwrought, inclosed, home, domestic, indoor, intramural, vernacular, endemic, internally, inwards, within, in, inly, here in, there in, where in, ab intra, withinside, in doors, within doors, at home, in the bosom of one's family.

Convexity

N convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion, camber, cahot, thank-ye-ma'am, swell, intumescence, tumour, tumor, tubercle, tuberosity, excrescence, hump, hunch, bunch, boss, embossment, hub, hubble, tooth, knob, elbow, process, apophysis, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity, tongue, dorsum, bump, clump, sugar loaf, bow, mamelon, molar, belly, corporation, pot belly, gut, withers, back, shoulder, lip, flange, pimple, zit, wen, wheel, papula, pustule, pock, proud flesh, growth, sarcoma, caruncle, corn, wart, pappiloma, furuncle, polypus, fungus, fungosity, exostosis, bleb, blister, blain, boil, airbubble, blob, papule, verruca, papilla, nipple, teat, tit, titty, boob, knocker, pap, breast, dug, mammilla, proboscis, nose, neb, beak, snout, nozzle, schnoz, peg, button, stud, ridge, rib, jutty, trunnion, snag, cupola, dome, arch, balcony, eaves, pilaster, relief, relievo, cameo, bassorilievo, mezzorilevo, altorivievo, low relief, bas relief, high relief, hill, cape, promontory, mull, forehead, foreland, point of land, mole, jetty, hummock, ledge, spur, naze, ness, convex, prominent, protuberant, projecting, bossed, embossed, bossy, nodular, bunchy, clavate, clavated, claviform, hummocky, moutonne, mammiliform, papulous, papilose, hemispheric, bulbous, bowed, arched, bold, bellied, tuberous, tuberculous, tumous, cornute, odontoid, lentiform, lenticular, gibbous, club shaped, hubby, hubbly, knobby, papillose, saddle-shaped, selliform, subclavate, torose, ventricose, verrucose, salient, in relief, raised, repousse, bloated, (expanded).