belly

BEL-ee/ˈbɛli/

Pluralbellies

Verbbellies, bellying, bellied

8 meanings of belly

Practice

1
front of bodynouncountable
The front of the body between the chest and the hips, especially when it is fat.
Years of beer and late-night pizza had given him a round belly.
She lay on her belly in the grass, reading a paperback.
UsageCommon phrases: lie on your belly, a round belly, belly fat, rub its belly.
Similarstomach, tummy, abdomen, gut, paunch
2
stomach (inside)nouncountable
The stomach, the internal organ where food is held while it is being digested.
A full belly made the whole crew sleepy after lunch.
Thousands of families went to bed on empty bellies that winter.
UsageCommon phrases: a full belly, an empty belly, fill your belly.
Similarstomach, tummy, gut
3
wombnouncountable
The womb: the organ in a female mammal in which young are conceived and develop until birth.
She could feel the twins turning over in her belly.
The calf was already large in the cow's belly by early spring.
UsageUterus is the medical word and womb the ordinary one; belly is the homely way to say it.
Similarwomb, uterus
Note
The King James Bible of 1611 uses it for the womb: "Before I formed thee in the bellie, I knew thee."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikisource.org
The 1611 King James Bible uses bellie for the womb in the quoted passage, Jeremiah 1:5. kingjamesbibleonline.org
4
nouncountable
The rounded or bulging part, underside, or deep interior of something, such as a ship's hull, a sail, or a mountain.
Cargo was packed tightly into the belly of the ship.
The miners worked for weeks deep in the belly of the mountain.
UsageUsually the belly of something: the belly of the ship, the belly of the mountain.
Similarinterior, depths, heart, hold, bowels
Note
The figure runs two ways. Sometimes it is the bulge, as in a flask, a violin, a sail, or the great belly of loose canvas in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island; sometimes it is the deep inside, as in the cry "out of the belly of hell" in the King James Bible of 1611.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island describes a sail as a great belly of loose canvas. gutenberg.org
The King James Bible contains the quotation, spoken by Jonah in Jonah 2:2. en.wikisource.org
The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
5
move on frontverbintransitive
To place one's belly somewhere, or to move along on one's belly by crawling.
The scouts bellied through the tall grass toward the enemy camp.
Regulars belly up to the bar the moment the doors open.
UsageUsually followed by a direction: belly through the grass. Belly up to the bar means press close to it to order.
Similarcrawl, creep, slither
Note
The verb covers two postures, and both want a word of direction after them. Crawling is one: Jack London writes of "bellying forward to the edge of the clearing" in The Call of the Wild (1903). Settling in is the other, as in bellying up to a bar, pressing close to the counter to order.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
Jack London wrote the quoted phrase in the narration of The Call of the Wild. gutenberg.org
The Call of the Wild was first published in 1903. en.wikisource.org

Less common meanings

6
verbintransitive
To swell or bulge outward, or to make something swell outward, as wind does with a sail.
The tent walls belly and snap whenever a gust sweeps across the field.
The old plaster had bellied outward where water seeped behind it.
UsageOften with out or as bellying: the sails bellied out, bellying canvas.
Similarbulge, swell, billow, balloon
Note
Wind-filled cloth is its natural subject, and the participle often does the work of an adjective: Dryden's "Homer's Ilias" (1700) has "the bellying Canvass," and Ezra Pound's "Canto I" still sails on "bellying canvas." Solid things can belly too, as in Theodore Roosevelt's Through the Brazilian Wilderness (1914), with trees whose trunks bellied into huge swellings.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Dryden's translation of the first book of Homer's Ilias contains the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
Dryden's translation was first published in 1700, in Fables Ancient and Modern. en.wikisource.org
Ezra Pound's Canto I contains the phrase bellying canvas in a sailing passage. english.fju.edu.tw
Theodore Roosevelt wrote Through the Brazilian Wilderness, first published in 1914. archive.org
The first edition dates publication to 1914. archive.org
Roosevelt describes trees whose trunks bellied into huge swellings. gutenberg.org
7
knife bladenouncountable
The main curved part of the blade of a knife.
Chefs rock the belly of the blade back and forth to mince garlic.
A skinning knife with a pronounced belly makes long, smooth cuts easier.
8
curved timbernouncountable
The hollow inner side of a curved or bent timber, opposite the outward-curving side called the back.
The builder turned the arched rafter so that its belly faced the room below.
Check the belly of each bent timber for cracks before the frame is raised.
Oppositeback
Note
Carpenters read a curved timber as if it were a body, with a twist: the belly is the hollow side, and the rounded, outward-curving side is the back. Since a human belly bulges, the pairing is easy to get backward, so it helps to picture a body bent forward, its back arched and its belly tucked in.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
The hollow side of a curved timber is called the belly; the convex side is called the back. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of belly apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

The Proto-Indo-European root *bʰelǵʰ-, meaning to swell or blow up, led to Proto-Germanic *balgiz, *balguz, a word for skin or hide, bellows, or a bag. From this came Old English bielġ ("bag, pouch, bulge"), inherited as Middle English bely. Dutch balg, German Balg and Old Irish bolg are related, and bellows, bulge and budge are doublets.