Using the term "belly up" in a sentence.
Hello,
Please help. Is the usage of the term "belly up" correct in this sentence? When I looked the term up, I found it to mean "a position with the belly facing upward, generally as a result of dying." It also means "failure, financially, or because something became defunct."
Rita's hands trembled in biology class when the time came to pin the frog's feet belly up inside the board.
Can the term be used this way, or is this incorrect?
Top answer
Strictly speaking, the feet can't be pinned "belly up", but we understand that it's the frog's body that is belly up, and that pinning the feet is keeping it in that position.
- Strictly speaking, the feet can't be pinned "belly up", but we understand that it's the frog's body that is belly up, and that pinning the feet is keeping it in that position.
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Strictly speaking, the feet can't be pinned "belly up", but we understand that it's the frog's body that is belly up, and that pinning the feet is keeping it in that position.
0cloudpixieCan the term be used this way, or is this incorrect?
Not incorrect, but in my opinion an unusual literal usage. It is the idiomatic meaning regarding failure that is almost always intended by "belly up".
CJ
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