Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To make plump or fat.
- intransitive verb To fertilize (land).
- intransitive verb To increase the amount or substance of.
- intransitive verb To grow fat or fatter.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make fat; feed for slaughter; make fleshy or plump with fat.
- To enrich; make fertile and fruitful.
- To grow fat or corpulent; grow plump, thick, or fleshy.
- In poker, to add chips to (a jack-pot which was not opened on the previous deal).
- In skat, to discard valuable cards on (a partner's tricks).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make fat; to feed for slaughter; to make fleshy or plump with fat; to fill full; to fat.
- transitive verb To make fertile and fruitful; to enrich
- intransitive verb To grow fat or corpulent; to grow plump, thick, or fleshy; to be pampered.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To become
fatter - verb transitive To cause to be
fatter
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make fat or plump
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Since you're trying to "fatten" her up a little, I hope you don't benefit from the same.
WordPress.com News 2008
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He was feeding fish to crabs to fatten them and getting a good economic return from selling the crabs.
Mary Robinson: Climate Change -- A Glimpse of the Future Mary Robinson 2011
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Executives and stockholders who rely on large profits to fatten their own wallets cannot admit this of course.
Credit Bush for Recovery?, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Extreme paternalism is a parasite sucking on a dry host, it will tend to allow some capitalism to fatten up its victim.
Incumbents and Government, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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The assumption is made that only executives and share holders are seeking to fatten their wallets.
Credit Bush for Recovery?, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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How can you have an effective health care system based on denying care as much as possible to fatten a company's bottom line?!? matt
Health care proposals need more work, health secretary says 2009
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Insurance firms also fatten their bottom lines by denying more claims.
Wendell Potter: Health Execs Getting Richer As Some Americans Beg for Help to Pay for Care Wendell Potter 2011
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He was feeding fish to crabs to fatten them and getting a good economic return from selling the crabs.
Mary Robinson: Climate Change -- A Glimpse of the Future Mary Robinson 2011
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The last 20% just says 'give private companies more money and fatten them up with profits while taking all regulations off so that they can abuse customers more.'
Republicans raising cash to counter-program ABC Obama special 2009
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He was feeding fish to crabs to fatten them and getting a good economic return from selling the crabs.
Mary Robinson: Climate Change -- A Glimpse of the Future Mary Robinson 2011
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