belly flop
1
4.1
- noun
- /ˈbɛli flɑp/
:
salto de panza
- The diver's attempt to impress the crowd ended in a painful belly flop as he hit the water flat on his stomach.
Examples
-
He lands with a huge splash, doing a painful belly flop.
Fiction book (1991) -
Well, we definitely have some world class belly flops that we've made and the.
-
Siggy does a belly flop then comes up for air, furious.
Fiction book (1991) -
" Don't look up or you'll do a belly flop."
Fiction book (1997) -
For the Olympic diver, his first dive may well have been a belly flop, but he got right back up on the diving board.
Blog text (24) -
After a running start, she leaped off the diving board, only to land with a loud belly flop that caused everyone to laugh.
-
Once he jumped into the pool, his belly flop made a huge splash that sent water flying everywhere.
Synonyms
104
1.0
A headfirst jump into water from a high board
22
4.0
A quick swim in water to feel refreshed
A dive where someone lands flat on their stomach and feels a painful hit
A dive in which the front of the body lands flat on the water with a loud splash
A dive where your stomach hits the water and hurts
How Splashy
Surface Forms
Morphology
While 'flop' clearly denotes a failure and a learner who knows that word could infer the MWE refers to some kind of failure, the role of 'belly' is not compositionally predictable — it evokes a physical, embarrassing landing and a metaphorical intensifier that requires cultural/figurative knowledge. Because the meaning is partly inferable from 'flop' but depends on a non-literal image to convey 'embarrassing/spectacular failure', it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Belly flop comes from the picture of someone jumping into water and hitting the surface flat with their belly, making a loud, painful splash. So belly flop now means 'a dive where the front of the body hits the water hard'.