See also: bêlong
- (Received Pronunciation): IPA(key): /bɪˈlɒŋ/
- (General American): enPR: bĭ-lôngʹ, IPA(key): /bɪˈlɔŋ/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /bɪˈlɑŋ/
Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɒŋ
- Hyphenation: be‧long
From Middle English belongen, bilongen, from Middle English be- + longen (“to be fitting, be suitable”), from Old English langian (“to pertain to, suit”), equivalent to be- + long (“to belong”). Compare Saterland Frisian beloangje (“to attain, reach, meet”), Dutch belangen (“to concern”), German belangen (“to sue, concern”).
belong (third-person singular simple present belongs, present participle belonging, simple past and past participle belonged)
- (intransitive) To have its proper place.
- Where does this document belong?
- (intransitive, followed by to) To be part of, or the property of.
- That house belongs to me.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
- 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
- A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.
- (intransitive, followed by to) To be the spouse or partner of. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (intransitive, set theory) (followed by to) To be an element of (a set). The symbol means belongs to.
- Suppose belongs to ... (— written: )
- (obsolete, transitive) To be deserved by.
- 1953, Ben Jonson, Timber: Or, Discoveries, page 70:
- More evils belong us than happen to us.
- This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
- → Jersey Dutch: belânge
have its proper place
be accepted in a group
be part of a group
be the property of
be the guardian, spouse or partner of
set theory: be an element of
- belong at OneLook Dictionary Search
Compare Kriol blanga, Bislama blong, Tok Pisin bilong, and Torres Strait Creole blong.
- (Australian Aboriginal, optionally followed by to) Of, belonging to.
- 1915, E. R. Masson, Untamed Territory:
- Jim Campbell, Charlie, Dick, ... Fred, lubra b’longa him, me, thass all.
- 1936, M. & E. Durack, Chunuma:
- By an’ bye ’im grow ’m up make ’m good fella stockman b’longta you.
- 1977, N. Kolig, Playing Alonga Mud:
- Those who had persevered with the course and had acquired some skill were now almost deferentially called ‘Maban (expert) belonga clay’.
- 1986 December, Kowanyama News:
- Them two bin help’m too, and that father blung to this one old Frank.
- 1986, B. Shaw, Countrymen:
- There’s the bloke that’s kill that feller, uncle belong you an me.
- 1991, D. B. Rose, Hidden Histories:
- Get that fire [wood] stacked up like that tree there, that high ... It wasn’t wood belong to that fire pile. Might be for station, or somebody else, you know.