bellywark

See also: belly-wark

English

Alternative forms

• belly-wark, bellywaak, belly-waak (East Yorkshire), bellywahk, belly-wahk (East Yorkshire), bellywarch, belly-warch, bally-warche (Cheshire, Staffordshire), bellywartch, bally-wartch, belly-wartch (Lancashire), bellywerch, belly-werch (Lancashire), bellywork, belly-work (Cumbria, Lincolnshire)

Etymology

From belly +‎ wark (“pain”).

Noun

bellywark (countable and uncountable, plural bellywarks)

1. (Midlands and Northern England) A pain in the stomach; bellyache; colic; gripe.
   • 1869, A. Lodge, Forty Years Ago, page 22:

     "Nay, nay," replied Charley, "I'm noen soea weel this morning, I've had th' bellywark vary bad, an' I'm feared it 'ell start again if I knock abaet, I'd rather ne quiet."

   • 2011 December 7, Richard, “Re: Cafe Giardino”, in Hastings Forum‎^[1]:

     wish I could eat the darn stuff - gives me bellywarks !!

   • 2013, Greer Gilman, Cloud & Ashes, →ISBN, page 173:

     "Cuddy's getten bellywark. Green imbers, he's etten."

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bellywark.
2. (Yorkshire, games) A shot in marbles made with the taw held against the belly.

References

• Wright, Joseph (1898) The English Dialect Dictionary‎^[2], volume 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 238