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
• overfatten verb (used with object)
• fattening adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fatten¹

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

Example Sentences

"I am thinking of setting up a new unit with my son for fattening calves," he says.

Read more on BBC

They are used to supply farms where they are fattened up for sale in Asia where eels are a highly sought delicacy.

Read more on Barron's

He was a skinny teenager told to go to buy milkshakes to "fatten him up".

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Soybean Export Council, a trade group, opened a Beijing office in 1982 to spread the word about protein-packed U.S. soybeans used to fatten livestock.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Business tax breaks cut federal revenues by $77 billion this year, fattening the pockets of rich corporate insiders.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• augment 
• broaden 
• build up 
• swell