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, chapter 18, in Honor of Thieves‎^[1], New York: R.F. Fenno, published 1899, page 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, chapter 1, in Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel‎^[2], New York: Norton, page 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, chapter 23, in The Big Red One‎^[3], New York: Bantam, page 79:

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

   • 1992, Melvyn Bragg, chapter 22, in Crystal Rooms‎^[4], London: Hodder & Stoughton, published 1993, page 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, chapter 10, in Your Blue-Eyed Boy‎^[5], Boston: Little Brown, page 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, chapter 4, in After Colette‎^[6], London: Sinclair-Stevenson, page 85:

     She caused a bellyload of trouble […]

   • 1999, Gary Garrison, The Playwright’s Survival Guide‎^[7], 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