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Glite Dictionary
to fatten out

to fatten out

4.9
To make an animal or person gain weight
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈfætən aʊt/
translation icon : engordar
  • The stylus itself has been fattened out and lengthened to three-quarters of the device's length, making it easier to write with, and its end is now rubberized to give it more pen-like friction on the glass screen.

Examples

  • So here we indulge in a little bit of artistic license and fatten out the middle of the line segment to get in Oval with pointed ends.

  • Well, you've fattened out, then.

    A Kind of Loving (1962)

  • To keep the animals healthy, the farmer decided to fatten out the sheep before their sale.

  • During the winter, she will fatten out the birds in her garden by offering them plenty of seeds.

  • The chef plans to fatten out the chicken using a high-calorie diet before the feast.

Synonyms

to put on
vsto fatten out
58 2.2

To gain weight and become heavier

means causing added fat or bulk to someone or something rather than self change
to fatten
vsto fatten out
45 2.2

To make an animal gain weight and a sauce taste richer by giving more or richer food

focuses on increasing roundness or thickness rather than feeding detail
to fill out
vsto fatten out
14 2.8

To become or make something fuller by adding more

is narrower, focusing specifically on adding fat or bulk
to fatten up
vsto fatten out
10 2.3

To give extra food so a person or animal gains weight

is the general act of causing increased bulk without naming the method
to fat
vsto fatten out
8 7.7

To make someone gain body weight

specifies creating extra bulk rather than any fuller shape
to plump
vsto fatten out
5 3.8

To make someone or something fuller and rounder

emphasizes adding fat or bulk specifically rather than general fullness
to flesh out
vsto fatten out
1 6.2

To become rounder and fuller, usually by gaining weight

is the act of making someone thicker rather than passively becoming so
to plump out
vsto fatten out
  • UK
6.1

To make someone or something rounder and fuller

stresses increasing fat or thickness rather than simply filling space
to enflesh
vsto fatten out
9.9

To make an animal or person fatter

points more to gaining fatty bulk rather than only fleshiness

Antonyms

to shrink
181 2.8

Become less in amount or value

to thin out
  • Informal
5 3.5

Remove some people or things so the rest are more spread out

How Fat

to fatten out
4.9
to overfeed
1 3.5
to put on
58 2.2
to plump up
1 4.5
to thin out
  • Informal
5 3.5

Surface Forms

fatten out infinitive
fattened out past
fattened out past participle
fattening out present participle
fattens out third person singular

Morphology

fatten + out

The meaning 'to make fatter' is directly derivable from combining 'fatten' (to cause to gain weight) with the particle 'out', which here functions as an intensifier/completive rather than creating an idiomatic shift. This compositional verb+particle pattern is regular in English and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Fatten out comes from farm life: farmers fed animals to fatten them and added out to show the animal was made fully round and ready for market. So fatten out means 'to make someone or something fatter or plumper'.