belly up

adjective

Dead or defunct.

“He bellied up to the bar as soon as he saw a free stool.”

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Meanings

adjectivebelly up (not comparable)

alternative belly-up

  1. idiomaticnot comparableDead or defunct.

    After several financial failures, the organization went belly up.

verbbelly up (third-person singular simple present bellies up, present participle bellying up, simple past and past participle bellied up)

present singular third person bellies up · participle present bellying up · participle past bellied up · past bellied up · alternative belly-up

  1. idiomaticintransitiveTo gather close, or approach eagerly or assertively, as a bar for ordering alcoholic drinks.

    He bellied up to the bar as soon as he saw a free stool.

    1 more example

    Belly-up to the bar boys and have a drink with me, […]

    1926, Cecil Villiers, “Don Juan and the Plaza-Miners”, in The Wails and Tales of a Tropical Tramp, Iquitos: Imp. «La hormiga» […], →OCLC, page 99
  2. intransitiveTo die; to fail or go out of business.
  3. intransitiveTo lay on the back with its belly up.
Cite this entry
APA

belly up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belly%20up

MLA

“belly up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belly%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “belly up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belly%20up.

Source: belly up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.