fatten Hear it!

fatten Definition

fat·ten (fat'n)

transitive verb

  1. to make fat, or plump, as by feeding; specif., to make (cattle, etc.) fat for slaughter
  2. to make (land) fertile
  3. to make richer, fuller, etc.

intransitive verb

to become fat

fatten Related Forms

fat·tener noun

fatten Synonyms

fatten

v.

  1. To grow fat

    expand, swell, fill out, gain weight; see grow 1.

  2. To make fat

    feed, stuff, prepare for market, plump, cram, fill, round one out, augment.

    Antonyms starve*, reduce*, constrict.

fatten Usage Examples

Object

  • pig: I mean John Howard once said, or said with respect to this election, you can't fatten the pig on market day.
  • calf: The female calves were kept to maintain the milking herd and the bull calves fattened and sold for meat.
  • goose: People during the Middle Ages also ate fattened geese.
  • cattle: Virginia has to weigh up the extra cost of organic feed against the price gained for the fattened cattle.
  • sheep: Conkers where also eaten by deer and cattle and in the past were sometimes ground up as meal to fatten sheep.

Preposition: on

  • pasture: The oxen are of various breeds; the heaviest kinds are fattened on the rich pastures of this county.
  • grass: The Herefords were a hardy breed and could generally be kept out of doors throughout the year and fattened largely on grass.

Modifying Another Word

  • very: For example, if this diet is very fattening, John will tend to gain more than you will.
  • not: Carbohydrates are not fattening, potatoes contain no fat at all!
  • then: They were then fattened on turnips, on which they were folded, and sold as quality mutton.
  • often: Often fattening pens do not even have an exit door.
  • specially: Salt fish, oysters, mussels or the specially fattened dormice cooked in a variety of ways.
  • quickly: Border Leicesters coul d be fattened quickly for the town market.

Followed by a transitive particle

up: Anyway, I am working on getting him fattened up a bit.

Particle object:

  • everyone: If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.
  • sound: By far the main effect that gets used is an ambient setting to fatten up the overall sound, and I rarely use echo.

Preposition: for

  • market: Lambs, when still very little, are sold to farms on lower-lying ground to fatten for the consumer market.
  • slaughter: These lambs are fattened for slaughter elsewhere in the UK or in Europe.
  • butcher: Dorset Down lambs, fattened for the butcher, are renowned for the quantity and exceptional quality of their tender and delicately flavored meat.

Browse dictionary entries near fatten

  1. fatso
  2. fatness
  3. fatling
  4. Fatimid
  5. Fatima
  6. fatigue
  7. fatigable
  8. fatidic
  9. fathomless
  10. Fathometer
  1. fattish
  2. fatty
  3. fatty acid
  4. fatty degeneration
  5. fatuity
  6. fatuous
  7. fatwa
  8. fatware
  9. fatwood
  10. faubourg