Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEL'LOW-ING, n.

A loud hollow sound or roar. – Herbert.

BEL'LOW-ING, ppr.

Making a loud hollow sound, as a bull, or as the roaring of billows.

BEL'LOWS, n. [sing. and plur. Sax. bilig or bylig, bellows; and bilig, bylg, a blown bladder, a bottle; Goth. balgs, bylg, bylga, a mail or budget; L. bulga; Ir. builg, bolg, a bellows; Ger. balg, a skin; blasebalg, a bellows, that is a blow-skin; D. blaasbalg; Sw. bläsbalg; Dan. blæsebelg. See Blaze. The word is properly in the singular number, Goth. balgs, but is used also in the plural. It seems to be the same word as the L. follis, and probably from shooting out, swelling, or driving. W. bal.]

An instrument, utensil, or machine for blowing fire, either in, private dwellings or in forges, furnaces and shops. It is so formed as by being dilated and contracted, to inhale air by a lateral orifice which is opened and closed with a valve, and to propel it through a tube upon the fire.

BEL'LOWS-FISH, n.

The trumpet-fish, about four inches long, with a long snout; whence its name. – Dict. of Nat. Hist.

BELL'PEP-PER, n. [bell and pepper.]

A name of the Guinea pepper, a species of Capsicum. This is the red pepper of the gardens, and most proper for pickling. – Encyc.

BELL'RING-ER, n.

One whose business is to ring a church or other bell.

BELL'SHAPED, a. [bell and shaped.]

Having the form of a bell. – Botany.

BEL'LU-INE, a. [L. belluinus, from bellua, a beast.]

Beastly; pertaining to or like a beast; brutal. [Little used.] Atterbury.

BELL'WETHER, n. [bell and wether.]

A wether or sheep which leads the flock, with a bell on his neck.

BELL'WORT, n.

A plant, the Uvularia. – Muhlenberg.

BEL'LY, n. [Ir. bolg, the belly, a bag, pouch, budget, blister, bellows; W. boly, the belly, whence boliaw, to belly, to gorge; Arm. boelcu, bowels. The primary sense is swelled, or a swell.]

1. That part of the human body which extends from the breast to the thighs, containing the bowels. It is called also the abdomen or lower belly, to distinguish it from the head and breast, which are sometimes called bellies, from their cavity. – Quincy.
2. The part of a beast corresponding to the human belly.
3. The womb. – Jer. i. 5.
4. The receptacle of food; that which requires food in opposition to the back. Whose God is their belly. – Phil. iii.
5. The part of any thing which resembles the human belly in protuberance or cavity, as of a harp or a bottle.
6. Any hollow inclosed place; as, the belly of hell, in Jonah.
7. In Scripture, belly is used for the heart. Prov. xviii. 8. xx. 30. John vii. 38. Carnal lusts, sensual pleasures. Rom. xvi. 18. Phil. iii. 19. The whole man. Tit. i. 12. – Brown. Cruden.

BEL'LY, v.i.

1. To swell and become protuberant, like the belly; as, bellying goblets; bellying canvas. – Dryden. Philips.
2. To strut. – Bailey.

BEL'LY, v.t.

To fill; to swell out. – Shak.

BEL'LY-ACHE, n. [belly and ache.]

Pain in the bowels; the colic. [Vulgar.]

BEL'LY-ACHE-BUSH, or WEED, n.

A species of Jatropha.

BEL'LY-BAND, n.

A band that encompasses the belly of a horse, and fastens the saddle; a girth. – Sherwood.

BEL'LY-BOUND, a.

Diseased in the belly, so as to be costive, and shrunk in the belly. – Johnson.

BEL'LY-CHEER, n.

Good cheer. [Not used.] – Chaucer.

BEL'LY-FRET-TING, n.

1. The chafing of a horse's belly, with a fore girt.
2. A violent pain in a horse's belly, caused by worms. – Dict.

BEL'LY-FUL, n. [belly and full.]

As much as fills the belly, or satisfies the appetite. In familiar and ludicrous language, a great abundance; more than enough. [Vulgar.] – Johnson.

BEL'LY-GOD, n. [belly and god.]

A glutton; one who makes a god of his belly; that is, whose great business or pleasure is to gratify his appetite.

BEL'LY-ING, ppr.

Enlarging capacity; swelling out, like the belly.

BEL'LY-PINCH-ED, a. [See Pinch.]

Starved; pinched with hunger. – Shak.

BEL'LY-ROLL, n. [See Roll.]

A roller protuberant in the middle, to roll land between ridges, or in hollows. – Mortimer.

BEL'LY-SLAVE, n.

A slave to the appetite. – Homily.