as in coming up
to come near or nearer
belly up to the buffet table and help yourselves
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Recent Examples of bellying up
Once called ''the funniest woman on TV,'' Catherine O'Hara spends much of her time these days bellying up against a snooker table at the Squeeze Club, a Toronto juice bar and pool hall.
—
Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 31 Jan. 2026
Across the river, Le Crocodile at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn brings a stylish, approachable scene for bellying up and indulging in sexy French cuisine.
—Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Jan. 2026
Swashbucklers, scoundrels, bandits and buccaneers will soon be bellying up to the bar inside a lively new pirate pub at Walt Disney World that’s already booked solid for the first two months and promises to be a must-have reservation for visitors.
—Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 29 Aug. 2025
Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 31 Jan. 2026
Across the river, Le Crocodile at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn brings a stylish, approachable scene for bellying up and indulging in sexy French cuisine.
—Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Jan. 2026
Swashbucklers, scoundrels, bandits and buccaneers will soon be bellying up to the bar inside a lively new pirate pub at Walt Disney World that’s already booked solid for the first two months and promises to be a must-have reservation for visitors.
—Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bellying up
Verb
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Step back, limit input, and process what’s coming up before moving forward with clearer boundaries.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
25 Apr. 2026
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With their scrimmage coming up the following day, the practice had a walkthrough type of feeling to it.—
Gabriel Duarte,
Daily News,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Hacker, whose brother Jacob is a sophomore on the team and whose father Darrell was an all-state player at Highland, has been drawing on the Indians’ loss to Valparaiso in the sectional championship game last season for motivation.—
Michael Osipoff,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Apr. 2026
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The fourth approach is human video learning, drawing on vast online datasets from platforms like YouTube and Douyin.—
Ni Tao,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In it, Silver Court’s owner informed residents that the 65-year-old park in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood would be closing in six months.—
Max Klaver,
Miami Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Gritty kept closing in on the pair.—
Ryan Brennan
April 23,
Kansas City Star,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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With the midterms approaching, certain primaries have reflected broader debates about whether the Party might consider cursing more, capitalizing tweets, going Dark Woke.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
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If prediction markets are any indication, Democrats are heavy favorites to take the House in November, with a likelihood approaching 85%.—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The company is also closing around 6,000 open roles, Janelle Gale, Meta’s chief people officer, wrote in a memo published by Bloomberg that Meta confirmed to CNN.—
Clare Duffy,
CNN Money,
23 Apr. 2026
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Shares of Texas Instruments soared 19% on Thursday, closing at a record.—
Katie Tarasov,
CNBC,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The coaches — Teisher for Mission Hills and Aaron Hooford for Escondido — had different philosophies coming into the game.—
John Maffei,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
25 Apr. 2026
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Gwen Polk, the district’s associate superintendent for business and financial services, said after the meeting that the companion resolution will have no impact on revenue coming into the schools.—
Steve Sadin,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bellying up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bellying%20up. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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