belch
/bɛltʃ
/verb
1 [no object] Emit wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth: pardon me for belching...
- Like this: until you've taught your child to say ‘excuse me’ after they belch or pass wind, you have no idea how many times the latter occurs on any given day.
- The man beside him belched noisily and turned to the traveler.
- She closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and belched loudly and contentedly.
Synonyms
bring up wind;
Scottish & Northern English rift
informal burp, gurk
archaic bolk, rout, ruck
rare eruct, eructate
2 [with object] (Especially of a chimney) send out large amounts of (smoke or flames): a factory chimney belches out smoke...
- Yes, we have seen the wrecked cars and the factories belching smoke and the blur of speedy automobiles crowding highways.
- We huffed up it for a little while before coming to a small house made of stone and clay, with dome-shaped windows and a mighty chimney topping it that never ceased to belch smoke.
- Fires continue to belch smoke over the city and sporadic gunfire echoes through the flooded streets.
Synonyms
emit, issue, vent, gush, discharge, eject, expel, empty, evacuate, give off, give out, pour out, disgorge, spew out, spit out, vomit, cough up, throw up
rare disembogue
2.1 [no object] (belch from) (Of smoke or flames) pour out from (a chimney or other opening): flames belch from the wreckage...
- Situated on the edge of the Black Country and only five miles from Birmingham, smoke still belched from its factory chimneys.
- At its height, flames and a huge pall of smoke belched from the burning building, and showers of embers were scattered into the night sky.
- There they visited a volcano, ‘it was unbelievable’ Pat said to see smoke belching from a mountain.
noun
An act of belching: he gave a loud belch figurative with a triumphant belch the train came to a stop...
- I got used to the sound of her chair scraping across the kitchen floor, of the creaks in the wood as she went down the hallway into bed each evening, even the incredibly loud belches after she finished dinner.
- And then, not long after, this other girl, whom I suspect is in my French class, gives a loud belch.
- Bo let out a loud belch and waved his hand as an excuse.
Synonyms
informal burp, gurk
archaic bolk, ventosity
Scottish & Northern English rift
rare eructation
Origin
Old English belcettan, probably imitative.