fatten
/ˈfætən/ verb
Forms fattens fattening fattened
- verb (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to be fat or fatter. “We must fatten the turkey in time for Thanksgiving.”
- verb (intransitive, of a person or animal) To become fat or fatter. “He gradually fattened in the five years after getting married.”
- verb (transitive) To make thick or thicker (often something containing paper, especially money).
- verb (intransitive) To become thick or thicker.
- verb (transitive) To make (soil) fertile and fruitful.
- verb (intransitive) To become fertile and fruitful.
Synonyms
gain weight put on weight enrich fat flesh out fill out plump plump out fatten out fatten up
Etymology
From fat + -en.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To make fat; to feed for slaughter; to make fleshy or plump with fat; to fill full; to fat.
- verb To make fertile and fruitful; to enrich; as, to fatten land; to fatten fields with blood. Dryden.
- verb To grow fat or corpulent; to grow plump, thick, or fleshy; to be pampered.
Etymology [See Fat, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fatten”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details