tenterbelly

T1E1N1T1E1R1B3E1L1L1Y4

noun

A glutton.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nountenterbelly (plural tenterbellies)

plural tenterbellies

  1. obsoleteA glutton.

    Not with ſweet wine, mutton and potage, as many of thoſe Tenterbellies doe, howſoever they put on Lenten faces, and whatſoever they pretend, but from all manner of meat.

    1628, Robert Burton, The Anatomy Of Melancholy
    2 more examples

    Bell, the famous Idoll of the Babylonians, was a meere imposture, a Iuggling toye, and a cheating bable, in comparison of this Nicholaitan, Kentish Tenterbelly, the high and mighty Duke All-paunch, was but a fiction to him.

    1630, John Taylor, The Great Eater of Kent

    That amongst the drink-alians in tenterbelly, he that can drinke a certaine vessell of about a gallon thrice off, and goe away without indenting, for this his good service is presently carried through the City in triumph, to that goodly Temple dedicated to god All-paunch, and there knighted.

    1638, Richard Younge, The Drunkard's Character

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

tenterbelly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenterbelly

MLA

“tenterbelly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenterbelly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenterbelly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenterbelly.

Source: tenterbelly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.