swagbelly
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From swag (“to droop; to sag”) + belly.
Noun edit
swagbelly (plural swagbellies)
- A prominent, overhanging belly.
- 1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, II.1:
- Sancho Zancas […] in the picture, was represented as a person of a short stature, swag belly, and long spindle shanks […] .
- 1935, Robert Ervin Howard, “The Haunter of the Pits”, in The Hour of the Dragon:
- He swept his gaze over the short, squat throat, the hairy swagbelly, and the mighty breast, swelling in giant arches like twin shields.
- Hence, a person with such a belly.
- 1694, Peter, transl. Motteux, chapter V, in Gargantua and Pantagruel, translation of La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel by Rabelais, François, published c. 1564:
- However, so many swagbellies and puff-bags will hardly go to St Hiacco, as there did in the year 524
- (medicine) A distended abdomen, especially caused by a tumour or enlarged organ; a physconia.[1]
Synonyms edit
- (prominent belly): See Thesaurus:paunch
- (person with prominent belly): See Thesaurus:fat person
Derived terms edit
References edit
- ^ 1839, Robley Dunglison, “SWAGBELLY”, in Medical Lexicon. A New Dictionary of Medical Science, […], 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, successors to Carey and Co., →OCLC: