ˈyellow-ˌbelly
1. a. A name for a frog.
| 1825 Houlston Tracts I. No. 28. 4 The Frenchman's soupe-maigre and fricasseed yellow-bellies. 18.. Nursery Rime, Yellow-belly, yellow-belly, come and have a swim. |
b. A native of the fens (in humorous allusion to a frog).
| 1787 Grose Provincial Gloss. s.v. Lincolnshire, Yellow bellies. This is an appellation given to persons born in the Fens, who, it is jocularly said, have yellow bellies, like their eels. 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Yellow Belly, a native of the Fens of Lincolnshire: an allusion to the eels caught there. 1846 J. Keegan Leg. & Poems (1907) 362, I would rather dig my daughter's grave..than see her tied to Lanty Wolfe. or any other yellow belly of the County Wexford. 1847 Halliwell, Yellow-belly, a person born in the fens of Lincolnshire. Linc. 1982 Times 5 Oct. 4/5 The Lincolnshire ‘yellowbellies’ of south Humberside..for generations have entertained a healthy disregard for Yorkshire ‘tykes’ on the north bank of the Humber. |
2. A kind of tortoise, or the tortoiseshell obtained from it.
| 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 127 note, The Yellow Belly, which plates are very thin and yellow. 1905 Times 15 Sept. 11/5 Tortoiseshell,..yellowbelly about 5s. dearer. |
3. (See quots.) derog.
| 1842 New Orleans Crescent 16 Mar. (Extra) 1 God send that they bayonet every ‘yellow belly’ in the Mexican army. 1845 [see copperhead 3]. 1850 Mayne Reid Rifle Rangers I. ii. 12 I've a mighty puncheon, as the Frenchmen say, to hev a crack at them yeller-bellies. Footn. Yellow bellies—a name given by Western hunters and soldiers of the U.S.A. to the Mexicans. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Yellow-belly, a name given..occasionally to half-castes, &c. 1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days x. 155 They're Eurasians—sons of white fathers and native mothers. Yellow-bellies is our friendly nickname for them. 1966 [see slant-eye(s) s.v. slant a. 3]. |
4. Name for various fishes having the under parts yellow (see quots.).
| 1890 Science 28 Feb. 141/2 A sole (Peltorhamphus novæ⁓zealandiæ) and a sole-like flounder (Rhombosolea leporina), commonly known as ‘yellow-belly’, are also frequently caught. 1896 Jordan & Evermann Fishes N. Amer. 1001 Lepomis Auritus... Yellow Belly; Redbreast Bream. 1898 Morris Austral Eng., Yellow-belly. In New South Wales, the name is given to a fresh-water fish, Ctenolates auratus; called also Golden-Perch... In Dunedin especially, and New Zealand generally, it is a large flounder, also called Lemon-Sole [Ammotretis guntheri]. 1899 Cumbld. Gloss., Yalla belly, a young salmon-trout returning from the sea. |
5. A coward. Cf. yellow a. 2 b, yellow-bellied a. 2. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1930 J. Lait Put on Spot 215 Yellow-belly. Coward. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §404/3 Coward..yellow-back, -belly or guts. 1952 H. Innes Campbell's Kingdom iii. ii. 271 What are you?.. A bunch of yellow-bellies to be fooled into hiding away. 1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden 517 I'm a cowardly yellow-belly. 1965 Austral. Women's Weekly 20 Jan. 50/5 ‘Yellowbelly baby... Spoiled-cat crybaby,’ Steve yelled at him. 1969 K. M. Wells Owl Pen Reader ii. 209 Grandad's knees shook, and he wasn't no yellow-belly either. 1972 ‘H. Howard’ Nice Day for Funeral ix. 128 She'd call me every kind of yellow belly if I suggested throwing in my hand. |