Belly Up

Belly Up
A slang term used to describe the complete and abject failure of an individual, corporation, bank, development project, etc. The term belly up is often used to describe a financial institution that has failed and been closed by regulators.

The Oxford English Dictionary records the earliest usage of the term in 1920 in the work of novelist John Dos Passos. During New York City's financial crisis in 1975, a columnist for the Washington Post declared "If New York can go belly-up, why not any city in the nation."


Investment dictionary. . 2012.

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  • Belly — Bel ly (b[e^]l l[y^]), n.; pl. {Bellies} ( l[i^]z). [OE. bali, bely, AS. belg, b[ae]lg, b[ae]lig, bag, bellows, belly; akin to Icel. belgr bag, bellows, Sw. b[ a]lg, Dan. b[ae]lg, D. & G. balg, cf. W. bol the paunch or belly, dim. boly, Ir. bolg …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Belly — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Belly Información personal Nombre real Ahmad Balshe …   Wikipedia Español

  • Belly — may refer to: *(slang/colloquial) The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax or, similarly, to the stomach **A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumably caused by regular beer ingestion. **Belly dance… …   Wikipedia

  • Belly — Годы 1991 1996 Страна …   Википедия

  • belly up — {v.}, {informal} To go bankrupt, become afunctional; to die. * /Uncompetitive small businesses must eventually all belly up./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • belly up — {v.}, {informal} To go bankrupt, become afunctional; to die. * /Uncompetitive small businesses must eventually all belly up./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • belly — [bel′ē] n. pl. bellies [ME beli < OE belg, leather bag, purse, bellows < IE base * bhelĝh , to swell, bag (< * bhel , to inflate) > Ir bolg, sack, belly, ON bylgja, billow, Goth balgs, leather bottle] 1. the lower front part of the… …   English World dictionary

  • belly up to — (US sl) To go directly or purposefully towards • • • Main Entry: ↑belly * * * belly up to [phrasal verb] belly up to (someone or something) US, informal : to walk to or toward (someone or something) The men bellied up to the bar. • • • …   Useful english dictionary

  • belly up — el ly up , belly up el ly up , a. [from analogy to the position of a floating dead fish.] defunct; bankrupt; used mostly of commercial organizations; often used in the phrase {go belly up}, i. e. to go bankrupt. [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • belly-up — el ly up , belly up el ly up , a. [from analogy to the position of a floating dead fish.] defunct; bankrupt; used mostly of commercial organizations; often used in the phrase {go belly up}, i. e. to go bankrupt. [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • belly up — bel‧ly up [ˌbeli ˈʌp] adverb informal FINANCE COMMERCE go belly up if a company goes belly up, it stops trading because it cannot pay its debts …   Financial and business terms

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