bellied up

verb

past tense of belly up
as in approached
to come near or nearer belly up to the buffet table and help yourselves

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bellied up
  1. approached
  2. closed
  3. closed in
  4. came
  5. drew on
  6. came up
  7. neared
Verb
  • The Technion team approached the problem by rethinking what happens on the other side of the electrolysis process.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Smoke from wildfires disrupted daily life in Brazil's largest Amazon region city of Manaus on Friday as the country's dry season approached its peak.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of approached
Verb
  • Other top executives received payouts that topped nine figures, SEC filings revealed after the Skydance deal closed.
    — Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The offer came at a time when Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and many other public school districts in Florida, have closed or consolidated schools and are contemplating even more closures.
    — Austin Horn, Miami Herald, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of closed
Verb
  • Stamos and Christian Love helped Mike to his feet, and then, on either side of him, held his arms aloft in the air in a triumphant pose, until the curtains closed in front of them.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
  • That unique gallery purchased the building in 2018 for $3 million, but officials there didn’t begin planning its future in earnest until Cap City vacated its lease and closed in July 2025.
    — John Wenzel, Denver Post, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of closed in
Verb
  • That came just a few days after news broke that Palantir had secured a $10 billion contract from the US Army over the next decade.
    — Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2025
  • All five of Bednar’s outs came via strikeout on Wednesday.
    — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 7 Aug. 2025
Definition of came
Verb
  • Leong, who has deep ties to Malaysian-Chinese culture, drew on his own family’s traditions to shape the story.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026
  • In the 20th century, FDR rejected bank nationalization to develop a common-sense securities framework that drew on the best of both the private and public sectors.
    — William R. Gruver, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of drew on
Verb
  • Senior tight end Matt Wagner also came up big in the passing game, recording a team-high five receptions for 46 yards, with three of those catches coming on either third or fourth down.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 11 Oct. 2026
  • On its final drive, Georgia Southern's Blake Ford came up just short of tying it on a 52-yard field goal attempt with 47 seconds remaining.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of came up
Verb
  • Three weeks ago, as his murder trial neared, Jones met with his attorney, Barry Johnson.
    — Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Oct. 2026
  • European benchmark natural gas prices neared their recent high from mid-September earlier on Thursday before pulling back.
    — Hanna Ziady, CNN Money, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of neared
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

bellied
bellied up
bellies
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bellied up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bellied%20up. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of abscond

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Why do we call it a 'flea market'?
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All