fattenv.
/ˈfatn/, U.S. /ˈfætn/ 1. absolute.1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 241 All Bodies may be made lean; but it is impossible to fatten, where, etc.
a. transitive. To make fat or plump. Also to fatten up. Usually: To feed (animals) for market, make fit to kill. Const. on.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (intransitive)] > fatten animals
fatc1386
fatten1552
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (transitive)] > fatten
masteOE
fatc1386
frankc1440
to set up1540
fatten1552
feed1552
cram1577
engrease1583
to raise in flesh1608
adipate1623
saginate1623
batten1638
to stall to1764
tallow1765
to fat off1789
to make up1794
higglea1825
finish1841
force1847
to feed off1852
steam1947
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [verb (intransitive)] > fatten animals
fatc1386
fatten1552
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [verb (transitive)] > fatten
masteOE
fatc1386
to set up1540
fatten1552
feed1552
forcea1571
cram1577
engrease1583
to raise in flesh1608
saginate1623
to stall to1764
tallow1765
stall-feed1766
graze1787
to fat off1789
to make up1794
higglea1825
finish1841
to feed off1852
steam1947
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Fatten or make fatte, crasso.
1622 T. Dekker & P. Massinger Virgin Martir ii. sig. D2v You snatch the meate out of the prisoners mouth, To fatten harlots.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. iii. 95 Wandring Laton..In spight of Juno, fatned with Joves balme.
1745 tr. L. J. M. Columella Of Husbandry viii. i Such fowls as are shut up in coops, and fattened.
1777 C. A. Burney Jrnl. in F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 284 His legs..have been fattend up by the gout.
1849 R. Cobden Speeches 3 His idea seems to be that men in time of peace were only being fattened up for a speedy slaughter.
1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 165 To fatten turkeys..give them mashed potatoes [etc.].
1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab viii. 148 Myriads of larks in combined flocks fattening themselves upon them.
b. Said of the food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (transitive)] > fatten > of food
fattena1592
a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. F4 Whose Batling pastures fatneth all my flockes.
1665 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 299 Wine and Music fattens them [Persian women].
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. 213 The forests of Lucania, whose acorns fattened large droves of wild hogs.
1838 W. L. Rham Outl. Flemish Husbandry xiii. 59 in Brit. Husbandry (Libr. Useful Knowl.) (1840) III The same food is given..to fatten cows or oxen.
c. transferred and figurative. to fatten into: to bring into a certain state by pampering (rare). to fatten out: to drive out by fattening.
ΚΠ
1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. Hvj I..praye him..to fatten all I haue, Excepte my witte alone.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 235 Choosing rather to fatten themselves by a contented Notion, than by curious inquisition to perplex their other recreations.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 504 The excise is fattened with the rich result Of all this riot.
1840 T. Arnold Let. in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1881) II. ix. 163 It is then quite too late to try to fatten them [men] into obedience.
1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. p. xxi John Bull has suffered the idea of the Invisible to be very much fattened out of him.
2.
a. intransitive. To grow or become fat. Const. †in, on. †Of a letter type: To become thicker. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily shape or physique > broad shape or physique > [verb (intransitive)] > fat or plump
forwaxc897
fatc1000
burnish1398
battle1575
pinguefy1598
bellya1642
fatten1676
(to be) in flesh1677
thrive1711
feed1727
bloat1735
plumpen1795
to fill out1851
stouten1863
1676 J. Moxon Regulæ Trium Ordinum 49 The Belly fattens downwards.
1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires xiv. 284 The good Old man and Thrifty Husewife spent Their Days in Peace, and Fatten'd with Content.
1712 G. Granville Poems 100 Tygers and Woves shall in the Ocean breed, The Whale and Dolphin fatten on the Mead.
1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator (1748) III. 132 They..rejoice and fatten in the blood of slaughtered millions.
1755 in World No. 113. ⁋12 I therefore propose to you that..we severally endeavour..you to fatten, and I to waste.
1790 W. Combe Devil upon Two Sticks IV. xiv. 93 After having, for some years, fattened in the ruin of others, he was at length ruined himself.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab i. 15 The meanest worm That..fattens on the dead.
1854 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 15 i. 252 The ewes readily fatten.
b. figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > prosper or flourish [verb (intransitive)]
theec888
i-thee971
bloomc1175
flower?c1225
soundfula1300
fructifya1325
timea1325
to bear the bloom1330
flourisha1340
prosperc1350
thrive?a1366
blossom1377
cheve1377
burgeona1382
likec1400
upthrivec1440
avail1523
fadge1573
to bear a great, high or lofty sail1587
blow1610
to be (also stand) in state1638
fatten1638
sagaciate1832
to be going strong1855
the mind > possession > wealth > be rich [verb (intransitive)] > become rich
gather?c1225
richa1375
purchasec1387
increasea1425
enrich1525
to feather one's nest1583
to make a, one's fortune1596
to make one's fortunea1616
fatten1638
accumulate1747
to fill one's pipe1821
to shake the pagoda-tree1825
pyramid1926
1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. III. 13 Methinkes..shee fattens and grows gracefull with these prayses you give her.
1761–2 D. Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lvii. 357 Such persons, who fatten on the calamities of their country.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab iii. 36 Those gilded flies That, basking in the sunshine of a court, Fatten on its corruption.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. v. 346 Foreigners who..were to fatten on English estates and honours.
3. transitive. To enrich (the soil) with nutritious or stimulating elements; to fertilize.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > fertilize or manure [verb (transitive)]
gooda1525
marl1528
plentify1555
fat1562
fatten1563
season1563
heart1573
manure1577
soil1593
hearten1594
remanure1598
enrich1601
teasel1610
battle1611
batten1612
bedung1649
sweeten1733
top-dress1733
top1856
side-dress1888
1563 W. Fulke Goodle Gallerye Causes Meteors iv. f. 50 Ye ryuer Nilus, whose ouerflowings, doth maruelously fatten ye earth.
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. G2v They are not ignorant also..what kind of dung is best to fatten the same againe.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 69 Just Heav'n thought good To fatten twice those Fields with Roman Blood. View more context for this quotation
1709 J. Swift Merlin's Prophecy One kind of stuff used to fatten land is called Marle.
1809–10 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1865) 190 Genuine philanthropy, which, like the olive tree..fattens not exhausts the soil from which it sprang.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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