fatten
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make fat.
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to feed (animals) abundantly before slaughter.
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to enrich.
to fatten the soil; to fatten one's pocketbook.
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Cards.
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Poker. to increase the number of chips in (a pot).
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Pinochle. to play a card that scores high on (a trick) expected to be taken by a partner.
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verb (used without object)
verb
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to grow or cause to grow fat or fatter
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(tr) to cause (an animal or fowl) to become fat by feeding it
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(tr) to make fuller or richer
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(tr) to enrich (soil) by adding fertilizing agents
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fatten
Explanation
To fatten someone is to feed them until they become bigger and fatter. Your grandmother might see a tiny baby and say, "His mother needs to fatten him up!" A farmer might spend weeks trying to fatten his prize pigs before he sells them for meat, and you may visit relatives who keep cooking you delicious food in an attempt to fatten you up. Figuratively, you can also fatten things like your bank account, by making it larger. Before the 1550s, the verb form of this word was fat — and both fat and fatten come from the Old English word fætt, "fat or plump."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In Melbourne, she walked out of the lead part in Noel Coward's Fatten Angels.
From Time Magazine Archive
Next to him sat Vivie Fatten, who made the little man the victim of her raillery.
From The Moneychangers by Sinclair, Upton
Fatten the body, rather easier than to strengthen the mind.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 10 by Edgeworth, Maria
Fatten those which are ready for it, with anything you find on the place.
From The Fat of the Land The Story of an American Farm by Streeter, John Williams
Fatten them with sodden oats or barley for the first fortnight; and the last fortnight give them as above, and rice swelled with warm milk over the fire twice a day.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
