belly

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the hollow inside of something

   in the belly of the ship

2. 2
   noun

   a part that bulges deeply

   the belly of a sail

3. 3
   verb

   to swell out or bulge out

   The balloon bellied out really quickly.

4. 4
   noun

   The abdomen (especially a fat one).

   You've grown a belly over Christmas! Time to join the gym again.

5. 5
   noun

   stomach (an organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion)

   My belly was full of wine.

6. 6
   noun

   uterus (a reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth)

   Before I formed thee in the bellie, I knew thee; […]

7. 7
   noun

   The lower fuselage of an airplane.

   There was no heat, and we shivered in the belly of the plane.

8. 8
   noun

   The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part).

   the belly of a flask, muscle, violin, sail, or ship

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *balgiz Proto-West Germanic *balgi Old English bielġ Middle English bely English belly Inherited from Middle English bely, beli, bali, below, belew, balyw, from Old English bielġ (“bag, pouch, bulge”), from Proto-West Germanic *balgi, *balgu, from Proto-Germanic *balgiz, *balguz (“skin, hide, bellows, bag”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell, blow up”). Cognate with Dutch balg, German Balg, Danish bælg, Old Irish bolg, Welsh bol. Doublet of bellows, blague, bulge, and budge. See also bellows. For the belly — bellows conn…