belly, belу, belu, below, baly, bali

[A.S. bælg, bælig, bylig, belg = a bulge, budget, bag, purse, or belly; O. Icel. belgran inflated skin, a leathern sack, a bellows, the belly; Ger. balg = a skin, an urchin, a paunch, the belly, a bellows; 0. H. Ger. balg; Goth. balgs; Gael. bolg = a pair of bellows, the womb; Ir. bolg = the belly, a bag, pouch, budget, blister, or bellows; Lat. bulga, an adopted Gallic word = (1) a leathern knapsack, (2) the womb. E ential meaning, anything swelled out.) A. As substantive: L. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally: (1) That part of the human body situated in front which extends from the breast to the insertion of the lower limbs; also the corresponding part in the inferior animals, and especially those of high organisation. It contains the stomach, the intestines, and other organs. "... if man were but a patent digester, and the belly with its adjuncts the grand reality?"-Carlyle: Sartor Resartus , bk. iii., ch. 1. In the case of such an animal as a serpent, the belly means the whole under-part of the body. "And the Lord said unto the serpent, belly shalt thou go,.."-Gen. iii. 14. Upon thy IMG:content-1217.png:[blocks in formation] (1) That part of man which demands food, in opposition to the back, or that which requires clothes; hence the craving of the stomach for food, appetite. "They were content with a licentious life, wherein they might fill their bellies by spoil, rather than by labour."-Hayward. whose god is their belly,..."-Phil. iii. 19. (See also Rom. xvi, om. xvi, 18.) (2) The front or lower surface of an object. (3) Anything swelling out or protuberant. "In those muscles which have a bulging centre or belly, as the biceps of the arm."- Todd & Bowman : Physiol. Anat., vol. i., p. 176. "An Irish harp hath the concave or belly , not along the strings, but at the end of the strings."- Bacon . (4) Anything enclosing another within its cavity. "Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice."-Jonah 11. 2. IL Technically : 1. Music : The upper part of instruments of the violin family. The sound-board of a pianoforte. 2. Engraving: The lower edge of a graver. 3. Saddlery : A piece of leather attached to the back of the cantle, and forming a point of attachment in some saddles for valise-straps. 4. Mach .: A swell on the bottom surface of anything; as a depending rib beneath a grate-bar, iron beam, or girder, to strengthen it from downward deflection between supports. The central portion of a blast-furnace. 5. Metal.: The upper rounded part of the boshes. 6. Locksmithing: The lower edge of a tumbler against which the bit of the key plays. 7. Railway Engineering: The belly of a railway rail; a descending flange between bearings. 8. Wheelwright ing: The wooden covering of an iron axle. 9. Shipwright ing: The hollow of a compa timber; the convexity of the same is the back. 10. Arch . The batter of a wall. 11. Naut.: The swell of a sail. 12. Mineralogy. Belly of ore : An unusual swelling out of the vein of ore. B. Attributively in the following compounds in the sense of pertaining to the belly.