/ˈbɛltʃ/
OriginFrom 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.
- ambitransitiveTo 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.”
“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”
“She eats too fast, belches behind a cupped hand, smiles.”
- ambitransitiveTo 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 […].”
“Vulcan this plague begot; and, like his sire,
Black clouds he belch'd, and flakes of livid fire.”
- An instance of belching; the sound that it makes.
“The hotel coffee machine gurgles out an acrid belch.”
- obsoleteMalt liquor.
“c. 1699, John Dennis, letter to Mr. Collier
Porters would no longer be drunk with Belch”
Formsbelches(present, singular, third-person) · belching(participle, present) · belched(participle, past) · belched(past) · belches(plural) · Belches(plural)