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Glite Dictionary
belly-up

belly-up

6 7.1
A company or shop that is not operating because it has no money
  • idiom
  • /ˈbɛli ʌp/
  • Informal
translation icon : quebrado
  • After years of struggling, the restaurant finally went belly-up, leaving its employees without jobs.
  • went belly-up
  • business went belly-up

Examples

  • I lost that job when the company went belly up.

    Blog text (26)

  • Expect more companies to go belly up.

    Blog text (6)

  • In 2010, a large amount of small businesses went belly up, and in 2011, more followed.

    Blog text (28)

  • Can you please do a little P.R. here and keep your new investment from going belly-up before it even gets started?

    Blog text (24)

  • The orphanage needs $830,000, or it's going belly up.

    The Three Stooges (2012)

  • Christy, Rinehart Brothers just went belly up.

    Switching Channels (1988)

  • Some, like Solyndra, Evergreen, Abound, etc., have already gone belly-up.

    Blog text (10)

  • They're still around because they got an infusion of $400 million from some saviors to avoid going belly-up.

    Blog text (27)

  • In 2011, many companies in the tech industry went belly-up due to the economic downturn.

  • The startup went belly-up within a year, disappointing many investors who had high hopes.

Synonyms

bankrupt
vsbelly-up
151 4.2

Not able to pay debts

is about a business that has closed down rather than a legal status
insolvent
vsbelly-up
  • Specialized
18 7.7

Unable to pay debts because they have too little money or assets

refers to a firm that has failed and stopped trading, not just lacking assets
bust
vsbelly-up
  • Informal
1 5.4

Having no money to spend

refers to a business that has stopped operating after financial failure

Antonyms

prosperous
83 4.1

Doing well and having a lot of money

How Solvent

profitable
191 3.8
belly-up
  • Informal
6 7.1

Surface Forms

belly-up positive

Morphology

belly-up = belly (semi-transparent) = up + belly

The phrase is built from 'belly' + 'up' with a literal sense (body turned belly-up) extended metaphorically to mean 'fail/cease operating', so knowledge of components only partly predicts the idiomatic meaning. [Postprocessing: moved 'up' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Belly-up comes from the image of a dead fish floating with its belly facing up, which shows it is 'dead'. So when a business goes belly-up, it means the business has failed or gone out of business.