bellyload
nounEtymology From belly + load.
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:
1 more example
- 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:
- Related terms
- bellyful