swagbelly

English

Alternative forms

• swag belly

Etymology

From swag (“to droop; to sag”) +‎ belly.

Noun

swagbelly (plural swagbellies)

1. A prominent, overhanging belly.
   • 1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, II.1:

     Sancho Zancas […] in the picture, was represented as a person of a short stature, swag belly, and long spindle shanks […] .

   • 1935, Robert Ervin Howard, “The Haunter of the Pits”, in The Hour of the Dragon:

     He swept his gaze over the short, squat throat, the hairy swagbelly, and the mighty breast, swelling in giant arches like twin shields.

2. Hence, a person with such a belly.
   • 1694, Peter, transl. Motteux, chapter V, in Gargantua and Pantagruel, translation of La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel by Rabelais, François, published c. 1564:

     However, so many swagbellies and puff-bags will hardly go to St Hiacco, as there did in the year 524

3. (medicine) A distended abdomen, especially caused by a tumour or enlarged organ; a physconia.

Synonyms

• (prominent belly): See Thesaurus:paunch
• (person with prominent belly): See Thesaurus:fat person

Derived terms

• swagbellied
• swaggy