fire in the belly
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Strong enthusiasm and motivation
Literally: passionate drive
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The notion of jealousy fires your imagination; you feel you have something to say on the theme.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “fire in the belly” mean?
Strong enthusiasm and motivation Literally: passionate drive
Is “fire in the belly” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.