fatten
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make fat.
-
to feed (animals) abundantly before slaughter.
-
to enrich.
to fatten the soil; to fatten one's pocketbook.
-
Cards.
-
Poker. to increase the number of chips in (a pot).
-
Pinochle. to play a card that scores high on (a trick) expected to be taken by a partner.
-
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to grow or cause to grow fat or fatter
-
(tr) to cause (an animal or fowl) to become fat by feeding it
-
(tr) to make fuller or richer
-
(tr) to enrich (soil) by adding fertilizing agents
Other Word Forms
- fattenable adjective
- fattener noun
- fattening adjective
- overfatten verb (used with object)
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.
Neither did the temporary suspension of export taxes for grain dealers, which generated dollar inflows but didn’t fatten the bank’s war chest because there was also lots of peso selling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 5, 2025
Wilson’s phalaropes feed and fatten up at Mono Lake before their migration to South America.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025
The Katmai brown bears are famous for standing at Brooks Falls, catching sockeye salmon in their mouths to fatten up for the winter.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 29, 2023
Liz Truss told the Institute for Government she tried to rear, fatten and slaughter a pig on market day in her rush to meet voters' need for change saying she had "limited time".
From BBC • Sep. 18, 2023
Seabiscuit’s groom, Ollie, had been feeding the horse enough rations to fatten up an elephant.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
