Pain in the stomach or abdomen. Also fig.
1763. Bickerstaff, Love in Village, III. ix. Well, aunt, you have been complaining of the stomach-ach all day.
1839. J. H. Newman, Lett. (1891), II. 286. I must confess it has given me a stomach-ache.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 241. In lead colic the more or less persistent ‘stomach ache’ … will usually assist in the diagnosis.
Hence Stomach-achey a. (nonce-wd.) productive of stomach-ache.
1860. H. Mayhew, Upper Rhine, ii. 65. A pickle that may be excellent … but which is sad stomach-achey wash.
1885. ‘Lucas Malet,’ Col. Enderby’s Wife, III. ix. What a windy, stomach-achy sort of reward it promises to be!
