subs. (vulgar).—1. The womb; the uterus. 2. The female pudendum: see MONOSYLLABLE. Hence BELLY RUFFIAN = the penis: see PRICK; BELLY-FULL = pregnancy; BELLY-UP = pregnant; LUMPY (q.v.): cf. APRON-UP; BELLY-PIECE = a mistress, a bed-mate; BELLY-PLEA = a plea of pregnancy: urged by female felons capitally convicted: it still holds good, execution of female convicts in ‘an interesting condition’ being deferred until after accouchement: in practice, it really means a commutation of the death penalty for life imprisonment. ITCH IN THE BELLY = sexual desire; TO LAY ONE’S BELLY = to be brought to bed; TO GET UP THE BELLY = to impregnate; TO GET A BELLY-BUMPER (or BELLY-BUSTER) = to be got with child; hence TO BELLY-BUMP = to copulate: also TO HAVE (DO, or PERFORM) A BELLY-BUMPER (-WARMER, -BUSTER, etc.); TO PLAY AT BELLY TO BELLY = to copulate; TO GET A BELLYFUL MARROW PUDDING = to be got with child, TO TAKE (q.v.): see GREENS and RIDE; BELLY-HOLDING = crying out in labour; BELLY WORK = copulation.
c. 1440. Promptorium Parvulorum, 30. 1. BELY uterus.
1549–50. Plumpton Correspondence, 254. As yet my wife hath not LAID HER BELLY.
1596. SHAKESPEARE, Merchant of Venice, iii. 5. 41. I shall answer that better than you can the GETTING UP OF THE negro’s BELLY: the Moor is with child by you.
1602. WARNER, Albion’s England, IX, xlvii. 222. My BELLY did not blab, so I was still a Mayde.
1607. E. TOPSELL, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 472. While they smell and taste of their dam’s BELLY.
1632. RANDOLPH, The Jealous Lovers, ii., 7 [Works (1668), 37].
| Blush not, bashful BELLY-PIECE.… | |
| I will requite that jewel with a richer. |
1705. WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, I. viii. 20.
| She wish’d with all her soul | |
| To have a Woman’s BELLY FULL | |
| Of what young Harry gave to Doll. |
1720. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vi. 324.
| Each has an ITCH IN HER BELLY, | |
| To play with the scarlet hue. |
1728. GAY, The Beggar’s Opera, i. Why she may PLEAD HER BELLY at worst.
1853. ‘STONEHENGE,’ The Greyhound, 178. ‘Flirt’ ran second for the same cup with ‘War Eagle’ in her BELLY.
