Dictionary

bellyload en · NOUN

Etymology

From belly + load.

Meanings

1. (colloquial) The amount that will fit in one's belly.
   • “I done cooked most of this yer grub,” whined he of the razor, “an’ I’se gwine t’eat my belly-load.” 1895, C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, chapter 18, in Honor of Thieves, New York: R.F. Fenno, published 1899, page 204:
   • I was sick; I vomited a bellyload into the gutter. 1966, Anthony Burgess, chapter 1, in Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel, New York: Norton, page 51:
2. (colloquial) The amount or number that will fit inside an aircraft.
   • The plane was in labor carrying a belly-load of bombs. 1980, Samuel Fuller, chapter 23, in The Big Red One, New York: Bantam, page 79:
   • […] 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 […] 1992, Melvyn Bragg, chapter 22, in Crystal Rooms, London: Hodder & Stoughton, published 1993, page 289:
   • You were lifted out of your lives, disgorged in bellyloads by planes that lumbered in looking too heavy to fly. 1998, Helen Dunmore, chapter 10, in Your Blue-Eyed Boy, Boston: Little Brown, page 103:
3. (colloquial) A large amount or number (of something).
   • She caused a bellyload of trouble […] 1993, Joan Lingard, chapter 4, in After Colette, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, page 85:
   • […] you don’t make a bellyload of excuses for why you haven’t written more, better, faster, or funnier. 1999, Gary Garrison, The Playwright’s Survival Guide, Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, Part 1, p. 24:

Forms

Relateds

bellyful