Partly due to the introduction of air conditioning and the trend for retirees to settle there, it has experience dramatic population growth in the post-World-War-II period.

The term can be spelled “sunbelt,” “Sunbelt,” and “Sun Belt.” However, the most common spelling is “Sun Belt,” which is used by such major American publications as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Furthermore, it is the spelling used by the Sun Belt Conference, a college athletic conference of twelve higher education institutions in the region.

“sunbelt”

• “But Boston’s heady period of growth was over by 1920. Between 1920 and 1950, the city population stayed flat, while the country’s population grew by 50 percent. Between 1950 and 1980, the city lost population. In 1910, Boston was the fifth largest city in the country. By 1980, 19 cities were bigger than Boston. Boston declined for at least four separate reasons. First, Boston was a cold city and over the 20th century, warm cities grew much more quickly than cold cities. Air conditioning and improvements in public health greatly increased the quality of public life in the sunbelt. Declining transport costs freed workers from having to live close to rivers or natural resources. Instead, people could move to warm places that were pleasant to live in.”—Edward L. Glaser, Reinventing Boston: 1640-2003, (2003), p. 5.

“Sunbelt”

• “The population count released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the total U.S. population was 308,745,538 and confirmed long-held assumptions that the balance of power in the country is titling away from Democratic strongholds in the Northeast and Midwest to warmer states in the Sunbelt, from Florida to Arizona, where Republicans hold sway.”—Patrick O’Connor, “GOP-Leaning States Gain in Census,” The Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2010.
• “In real estate, of course, location matters. High-traffic areas are obviously better than low-traffic areas; neighborhoods with plenty of senior citizens are prized too—the average 70-year-old takes 16 prescription medicines a year, double the number taken by a 50-year-old. (That last fact explains why the bulk of Walgreens’ grand openings of late have been in the Sunbelt: multitudes of retirees.) Judging by the longevity of its stores, Walgreens picks its spots well: Of the 3,600 new stores it has opened over the past ten years, it has closed only two because of poor sales. ‘We don’t make too many mistakes in real estate,’ says [David] Bernauer [Walgreen’s CEO], in what for him is a wild display of braggadocio.”—Matthew Boyle, “Drug Wars: Walgreens has racked up an amazing track record over the past 30 years. Now, as it confronts some scary new rivals, the drug chain is going to find out if it’s really built to last,” Fortune, June 1, 2005.

“Sun Belt”

• “‘The older industrial cities are going to suffer’ from shrinking employment and forbidding weather, says Mr. Rosen of the University of California. Some Sun Belt cities, including Atlanta, also could languish if traffic jams and sprawl ruin their charms, he says.”—James R. Haggerty, “The Future for Home Prices: Americans still see real estate as their best shot at wealth. It may be wishful thinking,” The Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2008.
• “Bettman, long distrusted in Canada for what was seen as encouraging the failed strategy of seeding hockey in the Sun Belt and for his roots as an N.B.A. deputy commissioner, has been vilified by many Canadians for opposing Balsillie.”—Jeff Z. Klein and Ken Belson, “N.H.L. Wades Further Into Coyotes Case and Maybe a Quagmire,” The New York Times, August 28, 2008.
• “Camden Property, which started out in Texas and has focused on the Sun Belt states, has been expanding nationally as well. ‘The Sun Belt tends to be volatile, and our sense is Camden knows how to operate in those markets,’ Mr. Smotrich added.”—Vivian Marino, “It’s a Good Time to Be a Landlord,” The New York Times, July 17, 2006.
• “When young Cheryl [Mendelson] was 13, her parents, having failed at farming, moved to the Sun Belt. ‘My whole identity was erased,’ she said. ‘Here I’d grown up doing laundry in the backyard, hanging it on the line with my grandmother. Then I get to suburban America and all this was regarded with complete contempt. Other mothers were saying things like, “I don’t want you to know about these things—you’re going to be something.” So I said, “All right, this is the game I’m going to play,” and I left it all behind until I made my way to New York City in 1981 to practice law.’”—Rick Marin, “A Scholar Tackles the Wash,” The New York Times, September 29, 2005.
• “The Post examines the National Hockey League‘s financial train wreck. Starting 13 years ago the league, then 21 teams, expanded geographically—with nine new franchises, many in the Sun Belt—in order to win a lucrative national TV contract. The resulting broadcast deal pays only $4 million per team annually (compared to the NFL‘s $80 million per), and ratings are poor. Meanwhile, the expansion diluted talent, reduced goals-per-game, and left a larger percentage of the league out of the lucrative playoff season. Profits declined—two thirds of teams are losing money—while player salaries skyrocketed.”—Michael Brus, “Semi-Private Jets,” Slate, January 17, 2004.
• “Nowadays, too, more Americans live in warmer climates. The area roughly below the 37th parallel—from North Carolina to Southern California—was home to 40% of Americans in 2000, up from just 28% in 1950. The Sun Belt‘s informality and warmer temperatures, which make tank tops and flip-flops that much more inviting, have probably nudged all of us toward a more fashion-free America.”—Daniel Askt, “Casualities,” The Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2003.
• “As the contracts expired, the Times Herald launched an ambitious campaign to overtake the Morning News and become the preeminent newspaper of Dallas—a prize of considerable value, since the Dallas market was expanding daily in the Texas boom that had been touched off by the Arab oil embargo and fed by Sun Belt migration.”—Calvin Trillin, American Stories, (New York:  Ticknor & Fields, 1991), p. 47.

Flexing the biceps is the most common way that people demonstrate their strength and physique: “When Paddy Leonard called him he found that they were talking about feats of strength. Weathers was showing his biceps muscle to the company and boasting so much that the other two had called on Farrington to uphold the national honour. Farrington pulled up his sleeve accordingly and showed his biceps muscle to the company. The two arms were examined and compared and finally it was agreed to have a trial of strength. The table was cleared and the two men rested their elbows on it, clasping hands. When Paddy Leonard said ‘Go!’ each was to try to bring down the other’s hand on to the table. Farrington looked very serious and determined.”—James Joyce, “Counterparts,” The Dubliners (1914).

“Biceps” can also be used to indicate muscles in general.  This quote refers to the “steroid era” in Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada, a period during which many professional baseball players took performance-enhancing drugs, and, thus, became bulkier and more muscular: “With the economy as bad as it is, it’s possible that more players will slide through waivers than ever before. Teams will be reluctant to take on an overpaid player just to keep him from a rival. Remember in 2000 when the Yankees claimed Jose Canseco to keep him off the Red Sox? They paid him millions to sit on the bench. That wouldn’t happen today. Those were the days when payrolls and biceps grew absurdly.”—John Rakowski, “Which Players Are Better Off?” Sports Illustrated, August 5, 2009.

He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around, by line. He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz. The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was complete.—1Ki 7:15-22.

In the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits long, each with a capital on top measuring five cubits. He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jachin and the one to the north Boaz.—2 Ch 3:15-17.