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Glite Dictionary
to lard up

to lard up

8.6
To make food very fatty by adding lots of fat
  • phrasal verb
  • /lɑrd ʌp/
translation icon : engordar
  • For a richer flavor, it's common to lard up the vegetables with some olive oil and spices.

Examples

  • Everything gets larded up and fried.

    Blog text (12)

  • To make the dish more flavorful, the chef decided to lard up the chicken with herbs and butter.

  • The recipe suggested that you should lard up the meat before roasting it to enhance its taste.

Synonyms

to lard
vsto lard up
1 6.9

To add fat to meat or pastry to keep it moist during cooking

is about making food excessively fatty or too rich
to lard down
vsto lard up
8.4

Make something richer by adding fat or extra things that are not needed

is used to mean making food excessively fatty or overly rich
to lardoon
vsto lard up
9.9

To insert thin strips of fat into meat to add flavor and moisture

is a broader action that makes food excessively fatty and rich

Antonyms

to defat
  • Specialized
7.0

To remove fat from food, such as gravy or meat

How Rich

to lard up
8.6
to lard
1 6.9
to baste
  • Specialized
8 5.0

Surface Forms

lard up infinitive
larded up past
larded up past participle
larding up present participle
lards up third person singular

Morphology

lard + up

The meaning 'to add fat or rich flavor' is directly derivable from combining 'lard' (to insert/add fat) with the particle 'up' (to increase or intensify). The verb+up construction is a common, compositional pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Lard up comes from a kitchen image: cooks would push pieces of lard (animal fat) into meat or spoon fat on top of a dish to make it richer. So, to lard up now means 'to add a lot of fat or rich flavor', often making food too greasy.