Etymology From Middle English belchen, from Old English bielċan, from Proto-Germanic *balkijaną, *belkaną, probably ultimately of imitative origin. Related to Dutch balken (“to bray”), Middle Low German belken (“to shout”), Low German bölken (“to shout, bark”), Old English bealċettan (“to utter, send forth”). See also English bolk, boak.
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Immunology, Medicine, SciencesAmbitransitive To expel (gas) from the stomach through the mouth; especially, to do so loudly.
'Tis not a year or two shows us a man: They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; To eat us hungerly, and when they are full, They belch us.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
1746, attributed to Jonathan Swift, "A Love Poem form a Physician to his Mistress," http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14353/pg14353-images.html When I an amorous kiss design'd, I belch'd a hurricane of wind.
1 more example
She eats too fast, belches behind a cupped hand, smiles.1980, J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians, Penguin, 19982, Chapter 2, p. 41:
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Ambitransitive To eject or emit (something) with spasmodic force or noise.
Thick smoke belched through the funnels of the steamship.
Within the gates of hell sat Sin and Death, In counterview within the gates, that now Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame Far into Chaos […].1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 230-33:
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Vulcan this plague begot; and, like his sire, Black clouds he belch'd, and flakes of livid fire.1697, Virgil, “The Eighth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
[…]beneath him sound like waves on a desert shore The voice of slaves beneath the sun, and children bought with money, That shiver in religious caves beneath the burning fires Of lust, that belch incessant from the summits of the earth.1793, William Blake, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, lines 30–33:
I sing the song of the great clean guns that belch forth death at will. Ah, but the wailing mothers, the lifeless forms and still!1914, Harry Kemp, I sing the Battle:
I grasped the cold slimy rung. My feet slithered and scrunched on stranded things. Next rung...the next and next...endless horrible rungs, hissing and smells belching from under the wharf.1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck:
Etymology From Middle English belchen, from Old English bielċan, from Proto-Germanic *balkijaną, *belkaną, probably ultimately of imitative origin. Related to Dutch balken (“to bray”), Middle Low German belken (“to shout”), Low German bölken (“to shout, bark”), Old English bealċettan (“to utter, send forth”). See also English bolk, boak.
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An instance of belching; the sound that it makes.
The hotel coffee machine gurgles out an acrid belch.2016 March 11, Jennifer Coates, “I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out.”, in Medium: