Forms: 5–6 belke, 5–7 belche, 6 balche, bealche, 6–8 belk, 7 bealke, 9 dial. belk, 6– belch. [OE. bealcian, bælcian: cf. Du. balken to bray, shout. See BELK.]
1. intr. To void wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth, to eructate. (Now vulgar.)
a. 1000. Be Manna Mode (Gr.), 28. Breodað he and bælceð.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 314. To belke thai begyn and spew that is irke.
1483. Cath. Angl., 27. Belche [v.r. Belke or Bolke], ructare.
1530. Palsgr., 447/2. Harke howe the churle belcheth.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 185. The olde … glutton … shall belk much and sleepe little.
1623. Cockeram, Parbreake, to bealke.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Belch, If an Asthmatical Person comes to belch, it is a good Sign.
1860. J. Wolff, Trav. & Adv., I. xi. 341. They sit … and belch, because, they say, that they are filled with the mystical wine of truth.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., Belk, to belch.
2. trans. To ejaculate, to give vent to; to vent with vehemence or violence (words, feelings). In early use, translating L. ēructāre, and having no offensive meaning; but in later use confined, by association with other senses, to the utterance of things foul or offensive, or to furious vociferation compared to the action of a volcano or cannon.
a. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Spelm.), xix. 2. Dæʓ ðam dæʓe bealceþ word.
c. 1500. Wyclif, Ps. xlv. 2 (MS. X.). Myn herte hath teld ethir belkid [1382 bowide] out a good word.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 637. As the rich glutton … belked out these glorious words.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 67. I belcht owt blasphemye bawling.
1594. Carew, Tasso (1881), 73. His fell griefe, as some begoared Bull, Roaring and sighing out he belkes at full.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 16 (1619), 323. And openly belch out blasphemies against God.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., Wks. 1738, I. 509. Belching out the same slanders.
1791. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Magpie & Rob., Wks. 1812, II. 473. Belching wisdom in one’s face.
1856. Capern, Poems (ed. 2), 176. The war-fiend shrieks and belches out his fury.
3. trans. To emit (wind, fumes, etc.) by belching. Also fig.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., III. 195. What spirit do they belche out?
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glasse, 37. He breathing belketh out such sulphure aires.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. v. 137. The bitterness of it I now belch from my heart.
1634. A. Warwick, Spare Min. (1637), 113. What more … noisome smells can a new opened sepulcher belch out?
1641. Milton, Ch. Discip., I. Wks. (1851), 12. Belching the soure crudities of yesterdayes Poperie.
1648. G. Daniel, Eclog., III. 207. Noe morning penitence Belches the folly of my last offence.
4. trans. To vomit. † a. lit. Obs.
1558. Phaër, Æneid., III. (R.). Belching raw gobbets from his maw.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 256. The venomd worme Had bealchd his poyson out.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XVI. 200. Their black jaws belch the gore.
1783. Blair, Rhet. (1812), I. iv. 83. Belching up its bowels with a groan.
b. fig.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. iii. 56. Destiny … the neuer surfeited Sea, Hath caus’d to belch vp you!
1648. Hunting of Fox, 36. Deadly Poyson, belch’d up by a Consistorian Schismatick.
5. trans. To eject, throw out. † a. gen. Obs.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. xvi. 40. Which vessel some will have to belch out acid blood.
b. esp. Said of the eruptive emission of fire and smoke by volcanoes; hence of cannons, etc.
1580. H. Gifford, Gilloflowers (1875), 125. Aetna hill doth belke forth flakes of fire.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 671. A Hill whose griesly top Belch’d fire and rowling smoak.
a. 1733. North, Lives (1826), II. 339. Strombolo … belched out fire and smoke in a most terrible sort.
1865. Parkman, Huguenots, iii. (1875), 34. Rebel batteries belched their vain thunder.
1874. Holland, Mistr. Manse, xv. 200. The cloud of menace belched its brand.
c. absol.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. VII. vii. 208. Rusty firelocks belch after him.
† 6. intr. To rise in eructation; to heave like a confined fluid or gas seeking to escape. Obs.
1576. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 420. Envious rancour so boiled in the brest, that it not onely belched, but also brake foorth immediately.
† 7. intr. To gush out; to flow in gulps. Obs.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 218. Their plenteous wine presses, and their full sellers, belking from this vnto that.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1351/1. The blood still belched out into the basen.
