Belly-Piece, subs. (old).—1. An apron. Cf., Belly-cheat.
1689. Shadwell, Bury Fair. If thou shoulds cry, it would make streaks down thy face; as the tears of the tankard do upon my fat host's belly-pieces.
2. A mistress; a concubine; a whore.
1630. Randolph, Jealous Lovers. Asot: Come, blush not, bashfull belly-piece—I will meet thee: I ever keep my word with a fair lady. I will requite that jewell with a richer.
Belly Plea, subs. (old).—A plea of
pregnancy, generally adduced
by female felons capitally convicted.
This they took care to
provide for, previous to trial;
every gaol had, as the Beggars'
Opera informs us, one or more
child-getters, who qualified the
ladies for that expedient. The
plea still holds good, execution
of female convicts in 'an interesting
condition' being deferred
until after accouchement. In
practice, it really means a commutation
of the death penalty
for life imprisonment. All
chances, however, of becoming
enceinte after arrest are sedulously
guarded against by the
rules of modern prison life.
Belly-Plumper, subs. (American).—See
Belly-bumper.
Belly-Timber, subs. (old).—Food;
provisions of all kinds. [From
belly + timber.] This, like
many other words of its class
(e.g., back-timber, q.v.), was
once in serious use, but for a
long period it has been going
down hill, and it is now a
thorough-going vulgarism, only
surviving dialectically, and as
slang. Massinger and the older
dramatists employed it seriously;
toward the end of the seventeenth
century it began to be
used in a ludicrous and vulgar
sense. Butler employs it
thus, and in Charles Cotton's
Scarronides (1678), the hero we
are told—
Lay thinking now his guts grew limber, How they might get more belly-timber.
For synonyms generally, see Grub.
1614. Terence in English, Annona cara est. Corne is at a high price; victuals are deare; belly-timber is hard to come by.
1637. Massinger, Guardian, III., iii. Ador. Haste you unto my villa, and take all provisions along with you . . . Car. Trust me for belly-timber.
1663-78. S. Butler, Hudibras. Through deserts vast, And regions desolate they pass'd, Where belly-timber, above ground Or under, was not to be found.
1719. Poor Robin's Almanack, Feb. On the 10th day of this month, being Shrove-Tuesday, is like to be a great innundation of belly-timber.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Belly-timber (s.), all sorts of food.
1820. Scott, Monastery, ch. xv. 'Yonder comes the monkish retinue . . . I hope a'gad, they have not forgotten my trunk-mails of apparel amid the ample provision they have made for their own belly-timber'
Belly-Up, adv. phr. (old).—Applied
to women when enceinte. From
the protrusion of the abdomen
which takes place under
such circumstances.—See
Belly-full.
Belly-Vengeance, subs. (common).—Sour
beer, apt to cause
gastralgia. The French call
this pissin de cheval, i.e., 'horse
urine.' For synonyms, see
Swipes.
