fatten








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.

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
v.

1550s, from fat + -en (1). Related: Fattened. The earlier verb was simply fat (Old English fættian “to become fat, fatten”); e.g. fatted calf.

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