belly
part of speech
noun (a belly, bellies)
meaning for a pupil
1) The front part of the body between the chest and the legs, where the stomach is; the tummy. tree →
2) The stomach, where food goes. tree →
3) The rounded underside of an animal or of a thing like a plane or a boat. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, children say tummy or belly; doctors say abdomen. In science, an animal's belly is its underside, often paler in colour. In stories, «belly laugh» is a big deep laugh, and a full belly means someone has eaten well. Phrases: «belly button», «belly laugh», «belly flop» (a painful flat dive), «on its belly», «a full belly».
examples
- The baby giggled when I tickled her belly. tree →
- The dog rolled over to have its belly rubbed. tree →
- My belly is full after that big dinner. tree →
- A snake slides along on its belly. tree →
- He did a belly flop into the pool and it stung. tree →
- Your belly button is where the cord joined you to your mum. tree →
- The plane's belly touched the runway. tree →
- Santa had a round belly that shook when he laughed. tree →
- The Members of the Body once rebelled against the Belly. tree →
note
Plural: bellies (y → ies). «Belly» is a bit informal; «stomach» or «tummy» are also used, and «abdomen» is the scientific word. A real «stomach» is one organ inside the belly; a tummy ache can come from other organs too.
In the corpora
- A penguin's black back and white belly are camouflage called countershading, which many fish and sharks have too.
- Hatchetfish have thin silver bodies, lights on their bellies, and eyes that point upwards to spot food falling from above.
- Male sandgrouse soak their belly feathers at a waterhole and fly many kilometres back to their chicks, which drink from the wet feathers.
- Picture an animal so tall that a giraffe could almost walk under its belly.
- "Baby bump" means a belly that clearly shows a pregnancy.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «belly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.