belly-timbers

Noun

belly-timber (usually uncountable, plural belly-timbers)

1. (archaic, dialectal, humorous, usually) Food, provender.
   • And tho' knights errant, as some think, / Of old did neither eat nor drink, / Because when thorough deserts vast, / And regions desolate, they past, / Where belly-timber above ground, / Or under, was not to be found …1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London: Printed by J. G. for Richard Marriot, under Saint Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet, OCLC 43488441; republished as Henry G[eorge] Bohn, editor, Hudibras, by...

   Synonyms:

   aliment, bait, chow, comestibles, cuisine, eatables, eats, edibles, feed, fodder