Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Belly

Bel′ly (bĕl′ly̆), n.; pl. Bellies (-lĭz). [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.] 1. That part of the human body which extends downward from the breast to the thighs, and contains the bowels, or intestines; the abdomen.

☞ 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.

2. The under part of the body of animals, corresponding to the human belly.

Underneath the belly of their steeds. Shak.

3. The womb. [Obs.]

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. Jer. i. 5.

4. 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.

Out of the belly of hell cried I. Jonah ii. 2.

5. (Arch.) The hollow part of a curved or bent timber, the convex part of which is the back.

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.

Bel′ly, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bellied; p. pr. & vb. n. Bellying.] To cause to swell out; to fill. [R.]

Your breath of full consent bellied his sails. Shak.

Bel′ly, v. i. To swell and become protuberant, like the belly; to bulge.

The bellying canvas strutted with the gale. Dryden.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.