fatten

[fat-n]

verb (used with object)

1. to make fat.

2. to feed (animals) abundantly before slaughter.

3. to enrich.

   to fatten the soil; to fatten one's pocketbook.

4. Cards.

   1. Poker.,  to increase the number of chips in (a pot).

   2. Pinochle.,  to play a card that scores high on (a trick) expected to be taken by a partner.

verb (used without object)

1. to grow fat.

fatten

/ ˈfætən /

verb

1. to grow or cause to grow fat or fatter

2. (tr) to cause (an animal or fowl) to become fat by feeding it

3. (tr) to make fuller or richer

4. (tr) to enrich (soil) by adding fertilizing agents

Other Word Forms

• fattenable adjective
• fattener noun
• fattening adjective
• overfatten verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of fatten¹

First recorded in 1545–55; fat + -en ¹

Example Sentences

Wilson’s phalaropes feed and fatten up at Mono Lake before their migration to South America.

From Los Angeles Times

James Canton spent two years sitting beneath an 800-year-old oak tree near his home in Essex, watching acorns fatten and butterflies land on the massive knurled grey trunk.

From BBC

That isn’t enough to sway the gladiatorial majority, which is mostly made up of men grinning at the fattening piggy bank suspended above them.

From Salon

Energesman, meanwhile, has plans to turn the fattened fly larvae into a new income stream.

From BBC

He likens the effect of these chemicals on water-born bacteria to offering hungry humans a roomful of fattening fast food.

From BBC

Related Words

• augment 
• broaden 
• build up 
• swell