bellyload
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Noun
bellyload (plural bellyloads)
- (colloquial) The amount that will fit in one's belly.
- 1895, C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, Honor of Thieves, New York: R.F. Fenno, 1899, Chapter 18, p. 204,[1]
- “I done cooked most of this yer grub,” whined he of the razor, “an’ I’se gwine t’eat my belly-load.”
- 1966, Anthony Burgess, Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel, New York: Norton, Chapter 1, p. 51,[2]
- I was sick; I vomited a bellyload into the gutter.
- 1895, C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, Honor of Thieves, New York: R.F. Fenno, 1899, Chapter 18, p. 204,[1]
- (colloquial) The amount or number that will fit inside an aircraft.
- 1980, Samuel Fuller, The Big Red One, New York: Bantam, Chapter 23, p. 79,[3]
- The plane was in labor carrying a belly-load of bombs.
- 1992, Melvyn Bragg, Crystal Rooms, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993, Chapter Twenty-Two, p. 289,[4]
- […] there on the plane, a belly-load of decent people soaring above serene tooth-drawn Windsor Castle, home of the emblem of so much savagery […]
- 1998, Helen Dunmore, Your Blue-Eyed Boy, Boston: Little Brown, Chapter 10, p. 103,[5]
- You were lifted out of your lives, disgorged in bellyloads by planes that lumbered in looking too heavy to fly.
- 1980, Samuel Fuller, The Big Red One, New York: Bantam, Chapter 23, p. 79,[3]
- (colloquial) A large amount or number (of something).
- 1993, Joan Lingard, After Colette, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, Chapter Four, p. 85,[6]
- She caused a bellyload of trouble […]
- 1999, Gary Garrison, The Playwright’s Survival Guide, Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, Part 1, p. 24,[7]
- […] you don’t make a bellyload of excuses for why you haven’t written more, better, faster, or funnier.
- 1993, Joan Lingard, After Colette, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, Chapter Four, p. 85,[6]