bloat

[bloht]

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verb (used with object)

to expand or distend, as with air, water, etc.; cause to swell: Overeating bloated their bellies.

to puff up; make vain or conceited: The promotion has bloated his ego to an alarming degree.

to cure (fishes) as bloaters.

verb (used without object)

to become swollen; be puffed out or dilated: The carcass started to bloat.

noun

Also called hoven. Veterinary Pathology. (in cattle, sheep, and horses) a distention of the rumen or paunch or of the large colon by gases of fermentation, caused by eating ravenously of green forage, especially legumes.

a person or thing that is bloated.

bloater(defs 1, 2).

Nearby words

Origin of bloat

1250–1300; earlier bloat (adj.) soft, puffy, Middle English blout < Old Norse blautr wet, soft

SYNONYMS FOR bloat

1. swell, inflate, enlarge, balloon.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bloat ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bloat

Part of the decomposition process causes bodies to bloat and blood to sometimes seep from the mouth.
Bulgaria’s Vampire Graveyards|Nina Strochlic|October 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the new, leaner strategy, any bloat has to go, even if it means reversing on a major earlier decision.
Bill Gates’ Internet Doomsday Prophesy Comes True|Kyle Chayka|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On these bad days, I step out of bed and look in the mirror at the bloat in my face.
Inspired by Ashley Judd, My Own ‘Puffy Face’ Saga|Kelly Bergin|April 13, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Come on and watch the free show while the bloat makes out your check and mine.
The Lumberjack Sky Pilot|Thomas D. Whittles

All malt liquors fatten, or at least bloat; and I hope you do not deal much in them.
The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son|The Earl of Chesterfield
Had good digestion through the growing period, but subsequently became subject to "bloat of wind" in abdomen.
New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers|Various
The fly had pierced a blood vessel and would now bloat itself with blood.
The Lost Wagon|James Arthur Kjelgaard
The consekence was, he began to swell an bloat like a mad porkepine.
Letters of Major Jack Downing, of the Downingville Militia|Seba Smith

British Dictionary definitions for bloat

bloat

verb

to swell or cause to swell, as with a liquid, air, or wind

to become or cause to be puffed up, as with conceit

(tr) to cure (fish, esp herring) by half-drying in smoke

noun

vet science an abnormal distention of the abdomen in cattle, sheep, etc, caused by accumulation of gas in the stomach

Word Origin for bloat

C17: probably related to Old Norse blautr soaked, Old English blāt pale

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bloat

bloat

1670s, "to cause to swell" (earlier, in reference to cured fish, "to cause to be soft," 1610s), from now obsolete bloat (adj.), attested from c.1300 as "soft, flabby, flexible, pliable," but by 17c. meaning "puffed up, swollen." Perhaps from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse blautr "soaked, soft from being cooked in liquid" (cf. Swedish blöt fisk "soaked fish"), possibly from Proto-Germanic *blaut-, from PIE *bhleu- "to swell, well up, overflow," an extension of root *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole).

Influenced by or combined with Old English blawan "blow, puff." Figurative use by 1711. Intransitive meaning "to swell, to become swollen" is from 1735. Related: Bloated; bloating.

bloat

1860 as a disease of livestock, from bloat (v.). Meaning "bloatedness" is from 1905.

Medicine definitions for bloat

bloat

[blōt]

n.

Abdominal distention due to swallowed air or intestinal gas production.

Related formsbloat′ed (blō′tĭd) adj.

bloat

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

noun

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Origin of bloat

Examples from the Web for bloat

bloat

verb

noun

Word Origin for bloat

bloat

bloat

bloat

n.