belly flopper
- noun
- /ˈbɛli ˈflɑpər/
:
salto de panza
- The crowd winced as he became a true belly flopper at the pool competition.
Examples
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He attempted a belly flopper from the high dive.
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During the competition, he executed a perfect belly flopper, splashing water everywhere as he hit the surface flat on his stomach.
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After slipping on the diving board, she ended up being a spectacular belly flopper.
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Every summer, someone tries to be the best belly flopper at the neighborhood pool party.
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That was an impressive belly flopper!
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At the beach, she amazed everyone with her belly flopper dive, which left her gasping after the sudden impact.
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After a misjudged jump, he became the unfortunate star of a belly flopper routine, eliciting gasps from the audience.
Synonyms
1
4.1
A dive where the stomach hits the water flat and hurts
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
Surface Forms
Morphology
belly + flopper
The meaning is directly derivable from 'belly' (stomach/abdomen) + 'flop' (to fall or land with a flat/heavy impact); the -er nominal 'flopper' is a transparent agent/event derivation of 'flop'. This follows a regular compounding/derivation pattern (as in 'belly flop') that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Belly flopper The noun belly flopper comes from the picture of someone jumping and landing flat on their belly, with the flopper part showing the loud 'flop' into the water. That's why it means a dive where your belly takes the full hit and often feels painful or embarrassing.