belong definition

English

Pronunciation

• (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

Etymology 1

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”).

Verb

belong (third-person singular simple present belongs, present participle belonging, simple past and past participle belonged)

1. (intransitive) To have its proper place.

   Where does this document belong?

   1. (of a person) To be accepted in a group.

      You don’t belong here — get out.

   2. (followed by to) To be a part of a group.

      I don’t belong to them!

2. (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 222716698:

     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.

3. (intransitive, followed by to) To be the spouse or partner of. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
4. (intransitive, set theory) (followed by to) To be an element of (a set). The symbol ${\displaystyle \in }$ means belongs to.

   Suppose ${\displaystyle x}$ belongs to ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }$ ... (— written: ${\displaystyle x\in \mathbb {R} }$ )

5. (obsolete, transitive) To be deserved by.
   • 1953, Ben Jonson, Timber: Or, Discoveries‎^[1], page 70:

     More evils belong us than happen to us.

Usage notes

• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Jersey Dutch: belânge

Translations

Further reading

• belong at OneLook Dictionary Search.

Etymology 2

Compare Kriol blanga, Bislama blong, Tok Pisin bilong, and Torres Strait Creole blong.

Alternative forms

• blung, b'longta, b'longa, belonga, blonga

Preposition

belong

1. (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.