to fatten up
10
2.3
- phrasal verb
- /ˈfætən ʌp/
:
engordar
- The vet suggested we fatten up the puppy by feeding it twice a day.
- fatten up animals
- food to fatten up
- fatten up for slaughter
So that's a male castrated chicken that has been fattened up for sacrifice.
- So that's a male castrated chicken that has been fattened up for sacrifice.
- You buy the cow, you fatten it up, you grow it, and then you sell it.
- So they're pasture raised, but they'll be fattened up towards the end.
Examples
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We'll fatten you up before you return to Boston.
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Got to fatten you up for your babies.
-
'Cause we're gonna fatten you up nice and good before you go back.
-
We'll have to fatten you up.
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Maybe I should go and fatten up a little bit.
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Thought you needed fattening up.
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- Trying to fatten me up?
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You know, you have to fatten up.
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We gotta fatten you up!
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"I'll fatten you up," Mama said.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
58
2.2
To gain weight and become heavier
45
2.2
To make an animal gain weight and a sauce taste richer by giving more or richer food
14
2.8
To become or make something fuller by adding more
8
7.7
To make someone gain body weight
5
3.8
To make someone or something fuller and rounder
1
9.1
To become slightly fatter by gaining weight
1
6.2
To become rounder and fuller, usually by gaining weight
To make an animal or person gain weight
To make someone or something rounder and fuller
To make an animal or person fatter
To gain weight and become healthier after being thin or sick
Antonyms
How Fat
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make someone or something fatter' is directly derivable from combining 'fatten' (to cause to gain weight) with the particle 'up' (to increase or intensify). The particle only strengthens/completes the action rather than introducing an idiomatic shift, and this verb+up pattern is common, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will understand the MWE.
Etymology
The phrasal verb fatten up comes from farming life. On farms people gave animals extra food so they would fatten up before they sold them, creating a clear image of getting plump. That's why today fatten up means 'to make a person or animal gain weight'.