belt

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 a long narrow piece of leather, fabric, etc. that you wear around the waist: to do up / fasten / tighten a belt * a belt buckle seealsoBLACKBELT, LIFEBELT, SEATBELT, SUSPENDERBELT 2 a continuous band of material that moves round and is used to carry things along or to drive machinery seealsoCONVEYORBELT, FANBELT 3 an area with particular characteristics or where a particular group of people live: the country's corn / industrial belt * We live in the commuter belt. * a belt of rain moving across the country seealsoGREENBELT 4 (informal) an act of hitting sth/sb hard: She gave the ball a terrific belt. IDIOMS below the belt (of a remark) unfair or cruel: That was distinctly below the belt! belt and braces (informal) taking more actions than are really necessary to make sure that sth succeeds or works as it should: a belt-and-braces policy have sth under your belt (informal) to have already achieved or obtained sth: She already has a couple of good wins under her belt. moreatTIGHTEN verb 1 [VN] (informal) to hit sb/sth hard: He belted the ball right out of the park. * I'll belt you if you do that again. 2 [V+adv./prep.] (informal, especially BrE) to move very fast: A truck came belting up behind us. 3 [VN] to fasten a belt around sth: The dress was belted at the waist. PHRASALVERBS belt sth<->out (informal) to sing a song or play music loudly: Nobody can belt out a tune like she can. * The band was belting out songs from the 1940s. belt up (BrE) 1 (AmE buckle up) (informal) to fasten your SEATBELT (= a belt worn by a passenger in a vehicle) 2 (spoken) used to tell sb rudely to be quiet: Just belt up, will you!