to belly up
7
7.9
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
quebrar
- I started consulting without a contract, and the company went belly up, leaving me high and dry.
- go belly up
- business went belly up
- company went belly up
Things can go belly up because things happen.
- Things can go belly up because things happen.
- When they go belly up, who has to bail them out?
- You know, look at when Bed Bath and Beyond, they went belly up.
- Stand by from the crisis at our southern border to banks going belly up to issues with Russia and China.
- I can talk you through what we did when we faced the worst economy, the worst, a financial meltdown and an auto industry that was about to go belly up.
Examples
-
If the restaurant goes belly up, many employees will lose their jobs.
-
I came here from "Zing.com" when they went belly up and am not really surprised that Webshots has now also gone belly up.
Blog text (24) -
The reason for this is that it is far more likely for a company to go belly up than for a country.
Blog text (21) -
When they go belly up, who has to bail them out?
-
I'm investing a lot of time in these services; what if they go belly up?
Blog text (14) -
Have some companies that have received stimulus funds gone belly up?
Blog text (10) -
When the neighborhood changed, the purifier business went belly-up.
Fiction book (1994) -
The strike lasted 2+ years, and thousands of plumbers went belly up in their personal finances after their strike fund dried up.
Blog text (16) -
When a popular startup goes belly up, it often affects investor confidence in the industry.
-
Many small businesses are struggling to survive, and some may go belly up if the economy doesn't improve.
Synonyms
579
3.9
To fall down suddenly, for example when a person faints or a building breaks
361
5.1
Go out of business and stop operating
87
4.8
To fall suddenly in value, especially for prices or markets
81
5.3
Close a business because it cannot pay its costs
73
3.5
To be unable to pay debts
43
4.4
Fail because of money problems
18
5.5
Plans or hopes suddenly fail and disappear for good
15
5.3
To fail completely and close, especially a business or project
5
6.8
To fail completely because of problems with plans or projects
To fail completely in an embarrassing way
Antonyms
How Successful
Surface Forms
Morphology
belly + up
The meaning 'to fail completely/go bankrupt' is not transparently derived from 'belly' (a body part) + 'up' (a directional/particle), since there is no obvious compositional link and the sense is an idiomatic/metaphorical extension (e.g. imagery of a dead creature lying belly‑up) that B1 learners would not predict. This construction is language-specific and not a regular verb+particle compositional pattern, so learners who know the words but have not seen the phrase are unlikely to infer its meaning.
Etymology
The idiom belly up comes from the sight of a dead fish or animal lying with its belly facing up, a clear sign it is finished. So, people use belly up to say a business has 'failed' or 'gone bankrupt'.