bloat

[bloht]

verb (used with object)

1. to expand or distend, as with air, water, etc.; cause to swell.

   Overeating bloated their bellies.

   Synonyms: balloon, enlarge, inflate, inflate, swell, swell

2. to puff up; make vain or conceited.

   The promotion has bloated his ego to an alarming degree.

3. to cure (fishes) as bloaters.

verb (used without object)

1. to become swollen; be puffed out or dilated.

   The carcass started to bloat.

noun

1. 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.

2. a person or thing that is bloated.

3. bloater.

bloat

/ bləʊt /

verb

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

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

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

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bloat¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; earlier bloat (adjective) “soft, puffy,” Middle English blout, from Old Norse blautr “wet, soft”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bloat¹

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

Example Sentences

Wall Street has plenty to be thankful for right now, with hopes of a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in December helping investors to get over some of their fears about bloated artificial-intelligence valuations.

Read more on Barron's

The result is bloated discussions, sluggish decisions and diluted expertise.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Two years before Mr. Musk had freed Twitter from bloat and mismanagement by cutting nearly four-fifths of employees and creating something that worked better.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Songs like “No Good Deed” and “March of the Witch Hunters” are chopped up and rearranged to allow for more dialogue and less emoting, distending the film into a bloated heap.

Read more on Salon

But that is partly to do with recent valuation bloat.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• inflate 
• swell