belly up
To gather close, or approach eagerly or assertively, as a bar for ordering alcoholic…To gather close, or approach eagerly or assertively, as a bar for ordering alcoholic drinks.
» He was moving his belly button piercing up and down.
Er fummelte an seinem Bauchnabelpiercing herum. — Waldelfe
Amastan · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(idiomatic, intransitive)To gather close, or approach eagerly or assertively, as a bar for ordering alcoholic drinks.
He bellied up to the bar as soon as he saw a free stool.
(intransitive)To die; to fail or go out of business.
(intransitive)To lay on the back with its belly up.
Examples
2 sentencesHe was moving his belly button piercing up and down.
deEr fummelte an seinem Bauchnabelpiercing herum. — Waldelfe
The newspaper said that XYZ oil company went belly-up today.
Forms
bellies up, bellying up, bellied up, bellied up| Base form | belly up · to belly up |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | bellies up |
| Present participle | bellying up |
| Past simple | bellied up |
| Past participle | bellied up |
irregular
Phrasal verbs
2 phrasal verbsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Phrasal verbs: introduction — Because it is a phrasal verb
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.