bellyload

bellyload

English

Alternative forms

• belly-load

Etymology

belly +‎ load

Noun

bellyload (plural bellyloads)

1. (colloquial) The amount that will fit in one's belly.
   • 1895, C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, Honor of Thieves, New York: R.F. Fenno, 1899, Chapter 18, p. 204,

     “I done cooked most of this yer grub,” whined he of the razor, “an’ I’se gwine t’eat my belly-load.”

   • 1966, Anthony Burgess, Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel, New York: Norton, Chapter 1, p. 51,

     I was sick; I vomited a bellyload into the gutter.

2. (colloquial) The amount or number that will fit inside an aircraft.
   • 1980, Samuel Fuller, The Big Red One, New York: Bantam, Chapter 23, p. 79,

     The plane was in labor carrying a belly-load of bombs.

   • 1992, Melvyn Bragg, Crystal Rooms, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993, Chapter Twenty-Two, p. 289,

     […] 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 […]

   • 1998, Helen Dunmore, Your Blue-Eyed Boy, Boston: Little Brown, Chapter 10, p. 103,

     You were lifted out of your lives, disgorged in bellyloads by planes that lumbered in looking too heavy to fly.

3. (colloquial) A large amount or number (of something).
   • 1993, Joan Lingard, After Colette, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, Chapter Four, p. 85,

     She caused a bellyload of trouble […]

   • 1999, Gary Garrison, The Playwright’s Survival Guide, Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, Part 1, p. 24,

     […] you don’t make a bellyload of excuses for why you haven’t written more, better, faster, or funnier.

See also

• bellyful