▪ I. belch, v.
(bɛltʃ, bɛlʃ)
Forms: 5–6 belke, 5–7 belche, 6 balche, bealche, 6–8 belk, 7 bealke, 9 dial. belk, 6– belch.
[OE. bealcian, bælcian: cf. Du. balken to bray, shout. See belk.]
1. intr. To void wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth, to eructate. (Now vulgar.)
| a 1000 Be Manna Mode (Gr.) 28 Breodað he and bælceð. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 314 To belke thai begyn and spew that is irke. 1483 Cath. Angl. 27 Belche [v.r. Belke or Bolke], ructare. 1530 Palsgr. 447/2 Harke howe the churle belcheth. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 185 The olde..glutton..shall belk much and sleepe little. 1623 Cockeram, Parbreake, to bealke. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Belch, If an Asthmatical Person comes to belch, it is a good Sign. 1860 J. Wolff Trav. & Adv. I. xi. 341 They sit..and belch, because, they say, that they are filled with the mystical wine of truth. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Belk, to belch. |
2. trans. To ejaculate, to give vent to; to vent with vehemence or violence (words, feelings). In early use, translating L. ēructāre, and having no offensive meaning; but in later use confined, by association with other senses, to the utterance of things foul or offensive, or to furious vociferation compared to the action of a volcano or cannon.
| a 1000 Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) xix. 2 Dæᵹ ðam dæᵹe bealceþ word. c 1500 Wyclif Ps. xlv. 2 (MS. X.) Myn herte hath teld ethir belkid [1382 bowide] out a good word. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 637 As the rich glutton..belked out these glorious words. 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis ii. (Arb.) 67, I belcht owt blasphemye bawling. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 73 His fell griefe, as some begoared Bull, Roaring and sighing out he belkes at full. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 16 (1619) 323 And openly belch out blasphemies against God. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Wks. 1738 I. 509 Belching out the same slanders. 1791 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Magpie & Rob. Wks. 1812 II. 473 Belching wisdom in one's face. 1856 E. Capern Poems (ed. 2) 176 The war-fiend shrieks and belches out his fury. |
3. trans. To emit (wind, fumes, etc.) by belching. Also fig.
| 1561 Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 195 What spirit do they belche out? 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glasse 37 He breathing belketh out such sulphure aires. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. v. 137 The bitterness of it I now belch from my heart. 1634 A. Warwick Spare Min. (1637) 113 What more..noisome smells can a new opened sepulcher belch out? 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. i. Wks. (1851) 12 Belching the soure crudities of yesterdayes Poperie. 1648 G. Daniel Eclog. iii. 207 Noe morning penitence Belches the folly of my last offence. |
4. trans. To vomit. † a. lit. Obs.
| 1558 Phaër æneid. iii. (R.) Belching raw gobbets from his maw. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 256 The venomd worme Had bealchd his poyson out. 1718 Pope Iliad xvi. 200 Their black jaws belch the gore. 1783 Blair Rhet. (1812) I. iv. 83 Belching up its bowels with a groan. |
b. fig.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 56 Destiny..the neuer surfeited Sea, Hath caus'd to belch vp you! 1648 Hunting of Fox 36 Deadly Poyson, belch'd up by a Consistorian Schismatick. |
5. trans. To eject, throw out. † a. gen. Obs.
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xvi. 40 Which vessel some will have to belch out acid blood. |
b. esp. Said of the eruptive emission of fire and smoke by volcanoes; hence of cannons, etc.
| 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 125 Aetna hill doth belke forth flakes of fire. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 671 A Hill..whose griesly top Belch'd fire and rowling smoak. a 1733 North Lives (1826) II. 339 Strombolo..belched out fire and smoke in a most terrible sort. 1865 Parkman Huguenots iii. (1875) 34 Rebel batteries belched their vain thunder. 1874 Holland Mistr. Manse xv. 200 The cloud of menace belched its brand. |
c. absol.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. i. vii. vii. 208 Rusty firelocks belch after him. |
† 6. intr. To rise in eructation; to heave like a confined fluid or gas seeking to escape. Obs.
| 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 420 Envious rancour so boiled in the brest, that it not onely belched, but also brake foorth immediately. |
† 7. intr. To gush out; to flow in gulps. Obs.
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 218 Their plenteous wine presses, and their full sellers, belking from this vnto that. 1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed. III. 1351/1 The blood still belched out into the basen. |
▪ II. belch, n.
(bɛltʃ, bɛlʃ)
[f. prec. vb.]
1. An eructation.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 58 A Belche, ructus. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 132 The sight thereof moueth belkes, and makes the stomach wamble. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne route, a belch. 1763 Churchill P. Professor, Salute the royal babe in Welsh, And send forth gutturals like a belch. |
2. fig. Said of the sea, hell, a volcano, cannon.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. vi. 110 Pluto eik..Reputtis that bismyng belch haitfull to se. 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iv. xxii, O belch of hell! O horrid blasphemy! 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. ii. vi. vii. 118 And at every new belch, the women..shout. |
b. A slang name for poor beer: see quot. 1796.
| 1706 E. Ward Hud. Rediv. I. vii. 18 A little House, Where Porters do their Belch carouse. 1712 Henley Spect. No. 396 ¶2 Owing to the use of brown juggs, muddy belch, etc. 1796 Grose Class. Dict., Belch, all sorts of beer: that liquor being apt to cause eructation. 1858 A. Mayhew Paved w. Gold iii. iii. 265 Whilst my mates are drinking the ‘belch.’ |