belly
To position one’s bellyTo position one’s belly; to move on one’s belly.
Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Tom put his hand on his pregnant wife's belly.
Tom legte die Hand auf den Bauch seiner schwangeren Frau. — dinkel_girl
Том положил руку на живот своей беременной жены. — sharptoothed
Том поклав руку на живіт вагітної дружини. — deniko
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 sensesTo position one’s belly; to move on one’s belly.
(intransitive)To swell and become protuberant; to bulge or billow.
1917 rev. 1925 Ezra Pound, "Canto I" winds from sternward Bore us onward with bellying canvas ...
swell out or bulge out
(transitive)To cause to swell out; to fill.
Examples
287 sentencesTom put his hand on his pregnant wife's belly.
Том поклав руку на живіт вагітної дружини. — deniko
ruТом положил руку на живот своей беременной жены. — sharptoothed
deTom legte die Hand auf den Bauch seiner schwangeren Frau. — dinkel_girl
I hit him in the belly.
ruЯ ударил его в живот. — Hellerick
Mary got her belly button pierced.
Tom has a bit of a belly.
Tom has a scar on his belly.
Origin
Inherited from Middle English bely, beli, bali, below, belew, balyw, from Old English bielInherited 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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
bellies, bellying, bellied, belliedPhrasal verbs
2 phrasal verbsSynonyms
1 synonyms- swell out or bulge out:belly out
Word family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
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.