Belt

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Belt, n. [AS. belt; akin to Icel. belti, Sw. bälte, Dan. bælte, OHG. balz, L. balteus, Ir. & Gael. balt border, belt.].

•  That which engirdles a person or thing; a band or girdle; as, a lady's belt; a sword belt.  [1913 Webster]

  "The shining belt with gold inlaid."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which restrains or confines as a girdle.  [1913 Webster]

  "He cannot buckle his distempered cause
  Within the belt of rule."  [1913 Webster]
•  Anything that resembles a belt, or that encircles or crosses like a belt; a strip or stripe; as, a belt of trees; a belt of sand.  [1913 Webster]
•  Same as Band, n., 2. A very broad band is more properly termed a belt.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of certain girdles or zones on the surface of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, supposed to be of the nature of clouds.  [1913 Webster]
•  A narrow passage or strait; as, the Great Belt and the Lesser Belt, leading to the Baltic Sea.  [1913 Webster]
•  A token or badge of knightly rank.  [1913 Webster]
•  A band of leather, or other flexible substance, passing around two wheels, and communicating motion from one to the other.

  "[See Illust. of Pulley.]"  [1913 Webster]
•  A band or stripe, as of color, round any organ; or any circular ridge or series of ridges.  [1913 Webster]

Belt lacing, thongs used for lacing together the ends of machine belting.

Belt, v. t. 

•  To encircle with, or as with, a belt; to encompass; to surround.  [1913 Webster]

  "A coarse black robe belted round the waist."  [1913 Webster]

  "They belt him round with hearts undaunted."  [1913 Webster]
•  To shear, as the buttocks and tails of sheep.  Halliwell.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Belt, n. & v.
--n.
1 a strip of leather or other material worn round the waist or across the chest, esp. to retain or support clothes or to carry weapons or as a safety-belt.
2 a belt worn as a sign of rank or achievement.
3 a a circular band of material used as a driving medium in machinery. b a conveyor belt. c a flexible strip carrying machine-gun cartridges.
4 a strip of colour or texture etc. differing from that on each side.
5 a distinct region or extent (cotton belt; commuter belt; a belt of rain).
6 sl. a heavy blow.
--v.
1 tr. put a belt round.
2 tr. (often foll. by on) fasten with a belt.
3 tr. a beat with a belt. b sl. hit hard.
4 intr. sl. rush, hurry (usu. with compl. : belted along; belted home).

Idiom

below the belt unfair or unfairly; disregarding the rules. belt and braces (of a policy etc.) of twofold security. belt out sl. sing or utter loudly and forcibly. belt up Brit.
1 sl. be quiet.
2 colloq. put on a seat belt. tighten one's belt live more frugally.
under one's belt
1 (of food) eaten.
2 securely acquired (has a degree under her belt).

Derivative

belter n. (esp. in sense of belt out).

Etymology

OE f. Gmc f. L balteus

THESAURUS

Belt

Appleton layer, F layer, Heaviside-Kennelly layer, Mystik tape, Scotch tape, Van Allen belt, adhesive tape, airspace, anklet, area, arm, armlet, baldric, band, bandage, bandolier, bang, bar, bash, baste, bastinado, bat, batten, bay, bayou, beat, beating, bed, bedding, begird, belabor, bellyband, belt, belt in, bend, biff, bight, bind, bind up, birch, blacksnake, blast, blow, boca, bonk, bop, brace, bracelet, breechclout, buffet, bullwhack, bullwhip, bundle, cane, cat, cellophane tape, cestus, chain, chemosphere, chop, cinch, cincture, cingulum, circle, circuit, clap, clip, clobber, cloth tape, clout, club, clump, coldcock, collar, collarband, confines, continental shelf, corridor, couche, country, course, cove, cowhide, crack, craze, creek, crop, cudgel, cummerbund, cut, dash, deal, deal a blow, deck, department, dhoti, diaper, dig, dint, district, division, do up, drub, drubbing, drumming, earring, ecliptic, encincture, encircle, engird, ensphere, environs, equator, estuary, euripus, fascia, fetch, fetch a blow, fillet, finger ring, fjord, flagellate, flagellum, flail, flog, floor, friction tape, frith, fusillade, fustigate, gallery, gird, girdle, girt, girth, give a whipping, give the stick, great circle, ground, gulf, gut, harbor, heartland, hit, hit a clip, hoop, horsewhip, inlet, ionosphere, isothermal region, jab, knock, knock cold, knock down, knock out, knout, kurbash, kyle, lace, land, lash, lath, lay on, layer, leash, ledge, let have it, level, lick, ligula, ligule, list, loch, loincloth, loinguard, loop, lower atmosphere, masking tape, measures, milieu, moocha, mouth, napkins, narrow, narrow seas, narrows, natural harbor, neckband, necklace, neighborhood, nose ring, offshore rights, outer atmosphere, overlayer, overstory, part, parts, paste, pelt, perimeter, photosphere, pistol-whip, place, plank, plastic tape, plunk, poke, pommel, pound, precincts, premises, pummel, punch, purlieus, put across, put over, quarter, quirt, quoit, rap, rawhide, razor strap, reach, region, ribband, ribbon, ring, road, roads, roadstead, rope, salient, sash, scourge, seam, section, shelf, shred, sjambok, slam, slat, slip, slog, slug, smack, smash, smite, snap, soak, sock, soil, sound, space, spank, spill, splice, spline, stage, step, story, strait, straits, strake, strap, stratosphere, stratum, streak, streaking, stretch, stria, striation, striature, striga, strike, strike at, striola, strip, stripe, striping, stroke, strop, substratosphere, substratum, superstratum, swaddle, swat, swath, swathe, swing, swinge, swipe, switch, taenia, tape, tape measure, tapeline, tattoo, terrain, territory, thickness, thong, thrash, three-mile limit, thump, thwack, ticker tape, tie, tie up, tier, topsoil, tract, tropopause, troposphere, trounce, truncheon, truss, twelve-mile limit, twine around, underlayer, understory, understratum, upper atmosphere, vicinage, vicinity, waist belt, waistband, waistcloth, wallop, whack, whale, wham, whip, whiplash, whop, wire, wrap, wrap up, wreathe, wreathe around, wristband, wristlet, yerk, zodiac, zone

ROGET THESAURUS

Belt

Circumjacence

VB lie around, surround, beset, compass, encompass, environ, inclose, enclose, encircle, embrace, circumvent, lap, gird, belt, begird, engird, skirt, twine round, hem in.

Outline

N outline, circumference, perimeter, periphery, ambit, circuit, lines tournure, contour, profile, silhouette, bounds, coast line, zone, belt, girth, band, baldric, zodiac, girdle, tyre, cingle, clasp, girt, cordon, circlet.

Circularity

N circularity, roundness, rotundity, circle, circlet, ring, areola, hoop, roundlet, annulus, annulet, bracelet, armlet, ringlet, eye, loop, wheel, cycle, orb, orbit, rundle, zone, belt, cordon, band, contrate wheel, crown wheel, hub, nave, sash, girdle, cestus, cincture, baldric, fillet, fascia, wreath, garland, crown, corona, coronet, chaplet, snood, necklace, collar, noose, lasso, lassoo, ellipse, oval, ovule, ellipsoid, cycloid, epicycloid, epicycle, semicircle, quadrant, sextant, sector, sphere, round, rounded, circular, annular, orbicular, oval, ovate, elliptic, elliptical, egg-shaped, pear-shaped, cycloidal, spherical, I watched the little circles die.

Lake

N gulf, lake, land covered with water, gulf, gulph, bay, inlet, bight, estuary, arm of the sea, bayou, fiord, armlet, frith, firth, ostiary, mouth, lagune, lagoon, indraught, cove, creek, natural harbor, roads, strait, narrows, Euripus, sound, belt, gut, kyles, continental slope, continental shelf, lake, loch, lough, mere, tarn, plash, broad, pond, pool, lin, puddle, slab, well, artesian well, standing water, dead water, sheet of water, fish pond, mill pond, ditch, dike, dyke, dam, reservoir, alberca, barachois, hog wallow, lacustrine.