Definition

1. Noun:

   • The front part of the human body between the chest and the legs; the abdomen: This is the most common meaning, referring to the stomach area.
   • The underside of the body of an animal: This refers specifically to the lower surface of an animal's body, such as a snake or fish.
   • A bulging or central part of something: This describes a part of an object that curves or swells outward, like the main part of a sail or a rounded container.
   • The hollow interior of something: This is a more literary or figurative use, meaning the inside of a large, often confining, space.

2. Verb:

   • To swell out or bulge: This describes the action of something becoming rounded and protruding outward.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • He rubbed his full belly after the big meal. (Referring to the human abdomen.)
  • The cat rolled over to expose its soft, white belly. (Referring to an animal's underside.)
  • The wind filled the belly of the sail. (Referring to the bulging part of a sail.)
  • The miners worked deep in the belly of the earth. (Referring to the interior of the mine.)

• Verb:

  • The sails bellied out in the strong wind. (Describing the sails swelling.)

Advanced Usage

• "Belly of the beast": A figurative idiom meaning to be in the most dangerous or central part of a difficult situation.

  • As a war correspondent, she often found herself in the belly of the beast.

• "To go belly up": An informal idiom meaning to fail completely, especially for a business, or to die (for an animal, often a fish).

  • Several restaurants went belly up during the economic crisis.

Variants and Related Words

• Bellyful (noun): An amount of food that fills the stomach; also used figuratively to mean more than enough of something unpleasant.

  • I've had a bellyful of your complaints.

• Bellyache (noun & verb): (Informal) A stomach pain; or to complain persistently and annoyingly.

  • Noun: He had a bellyache from eating too much candy.
  • Verb: Stop bellyaching about the homework and just do it.

• Belly button (noun): (Informal) The navel.

Synonyms

• Abdomen (noun): The formal or scientific term for the belly.
• Stomach (noun): Often used interchangeably with 'belly' for the abdominal area, though it specifically refers to the internal organ.
• Paunch (noun): A protruding belly, especially on a man.
• Bulge (verb): To swell or protrude, similar to the verb form.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Belly out (phrasal verb): To swell or curve outward. This is the direct phrasal form of the verb.
  • The parachute bellied out as it caught the air.

Related Idioms

• Belly laugh: A deep, hearty laugh that comes from the abdomen.

  • His joke caused belly laughs throughout the room.

• Fire in the belly: Strong ambition, drive, or passion.

  • To be a successful entrepreneur, you need fire in your belly.

Noun

1. the underpart of the body of certain vertebrates such as snakes or fish
2. the hollow inside of something
   • in the belly of the ship
3. a part that bulges deeply
   • the belly of a sail
4. a protruding abdomen
5. the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis

Verb

1. swell out or bulge out