† ˈgorbelly, n. (and a.) Obs. exc. dial.
[? f. gor, gore n.1 (sense 1) + belly. Cf. Sw. dial. går-bälg.]
† 1. A protuberant belly. Obs.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 30 He had a fatte necke and a gorbely. 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xxviii. (1631) 22 As if there had beene no grace but in a gorbelly. 1615 T. Adams Sacrifice of Thank. 18 The Epicure hath a gorbelly. 1674 J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 21 Finding her [a she-wolf's] Gor-belly stuft with flesh newly taken in. 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. 133 About the size of Vultures..with crooked Beaks and Gor-bellies. 1790 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 144 Falstaff, reproaching the Londoners..with their gore-bellies. |
b. nonce-use. A garment with a loose belly.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 48 The French quarter slop, or the gorbelly, The long stockt hose, or close Venetian. |
2. A person with a protuberant belly.
| 1530 Palsgr. 429/1 Se this gorbely, he is so shorte wynded that he can scarsely speke. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 189 They haue called him..gorebelly, and hook-nosed. 1607 Brewer Lingua v. ii, The belching gor-belly hath well nigh killed me. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. (1737) 216 Fat, pursy Gorbellies. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Gorbelly, an over-corpulent person. (Very com.) |
† 3. attrib. passing into adj. = gorbellied a. Obs.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 641/1 Y⊇ church had not prouided for gorbeli glottons. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 222 b, What if Landes and possessions long times englutted with gorbelly Mouncks became a pray to the spoylers. 1603 Dekker Wonderfull Yeare F ij, My gorbelly Host leapt halfe a yarde from the coarse. |