belt
pronunciation
How to pronounce belt in British English:
UK [belt]
How to pronounce belt in American English:
US [belt]
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- Noun:
- endless loop of flexible material between two rotating shafts or pulleys
- a band to tie or buckle around the body (usually at the waist)
- an elongated region where a specific condition is found
- a vigorous blow
- a path or strip (as cut by one course of mowing)
- the act of hitting vigorously
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- Verb:
- sing loudly and forcefully
- deliver a blow to
- fasten with a belt
Word Origin
- belt
- belt: [OE] Old English belt and related Germanic forms such as Swedish bälte point to a source in Germanic *baltjaz, which was borrowed from Latin balteus, possibly a word of Etruscan origin. The verbal idiom belt up ‘be quiet’ appears to date from just before World War II.
- belt (n.)
- Old English belt "belt, girdle," from Proto-Germanic *baltjaz (cognates: Old High German balz, Old Norse balti, Swedish bälte), an early Germanic borrowing from Latin balteus "girdle, sword belt," said by Varro to be an Etruscan word. As a mark of rank or distinction, mid-14c.; references to boxing championship belts date from 1812. Mechanical sense is from 1795. Transferred sense of "broad stripe encircling something" is from 1660s. Below the belt "unfair" (1889) is from pugilism. To get something under (one's) belt is to get it into one's stomach. To tighten (one's) belt "endure privation" is from 1887.
- belt (v.)
- early 14c., "to fasten or gird with a belt," from belt (n.). Meaning "to thrash as with a belt" is 1640s; general sense of "to hit, thrash" is attested from 1838. Colloquial meaning "to sing or speak vigorously" is from 1949. Related: Belted; belting. Hence (from the "thrash with a belt" sense) the noun meaning "a blow or stroke" (1899).
Example
- 1. Please fasten your seat belt for your own safety .
- 2. Belt buckles date back to the bronze age .
- 3. A man riding a dolphin upon a belt buckle .
- 4. Firms in the southern chinese manufacturing belt are being painfully squeezed .
- 5. Pakistan 's generals want to stop the cia drone campaign in the tribal belt .