belly up
1. verb To walk up to something. It is often used in the expression "belly up to the bar," which does not necessarily refer to an actual bar. Come on, just belly up to the bar! Push through that crowd in the lobby so we can get to the check-in desk today! You know, I can't exactly belly up to the elevator while pushing a whole trolley of luggage. I can't just belly up to the bar—I'm getting angry looks from everyone else who's already pushed their way close to the stage!
2.adjective Defunct. The phrase likely refers to how dead fish float. Oh, that idea went belly up when the CEO criticized it. Once news of the embezzlement scandal broke, the company went belly up. I wonder how many start-ups in Silicon Valley go belly up each year.
3. adjective Drunk. Do you remember last night at the bar at all? You were really belly up! Well, I must have been belly up if I got up and did karaoke at the bar! Help him get home, will ya? He started drinking whiskey, and now he's belly up.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
belly up (to something)
to move up to something, often a bar. (Usually in reference to nudging one's way to a bar.) The man swaggered in and bellied up to the counter and demanded my immediate attention. As he bellied up, he said, "Do you know who I am?"
belly up
1. intoxicated by alcohol. Fred was boiled—belly up—glassy-eyed. After four beers, I was belly up, for sure.
2. Sl. (of a business) bankrupt; dead. (Like a dead fish that floats belly up.) That's the end. This company is belly up. After the fire the firm went belly up.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
belly up
v. Slang To approach closely: The drunk tourists bellied up to the bar and drank some more. They were shy, but when we asked them over, they eventually bellied up and joined us.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
belly up
verbbelly up
1. mod. alcohol intoxicated. Sylvia was boiled—belly up—glassy-eyed.
2. mod. dead. That’s the end. This company is belly up. (See also turn belly up.) After the fire the firm went belly up.
3. Go to belly up (to something).
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.