bloat

bloatverb/bləʊt/

• 1

  To cause to become distended.

• 2

  biologymedicinenatural-sciencesTo get an overdistended rumen, talking of a ruminant.

• 3

  To fill soft substance with gas, water, etc.; to cause to swell.

• 4

  To become distended; to swell up.

  • if a Person of a firm Conſtitution begins to bloat, and from being warm grows cold, his Fibres grow weak, Anxiety and Palpitations of the Heart are a ſign of weak Fibres
• 5

  To fill with vanity or conceit.

  • 1675, John Dryden, Prologue to Circe by Dr. Davenant Encourage him, and bloat him up with Praise
• 6

  datedTo preserve by slightly salting and lightly smoking.

  • bloated herring
• 7

  To increase to an excessive amount.

  • In the UK, the fraction of electricity generated by nuclear plants has slid steadily downwards, from 25% in the 1990s to 16% in 2020. Of the five nuclear stations still producing power, only one will run beyond 2028. Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear plant in a generation, is being built in Somerset, but its cost has bloated to more than £25bn.

bloatnoun/bləʊt/

• 1

  Distention of the abdomen from death.

• 2

  biologymedicinenatural-sciencesPathological overdistention of rumen with gas in a ruminant.

• 3

  Wasteful use of space or other resources.

  • Adding an e-mail feature to this simple text editor would be pointless bloat.
• 4

  derogatorydatedslangA worthless, dissipated fellow.

• 5

  A group of hippopotamuses.

  • A group of hippos is called a bloat.
  • It was a massive bloat of hippopotamus making a beeline right for them. Bakvissie didn't have to be told twice, he scrambled over Shimbaka's head and straight up into the tree so fast that Shimbaka wasn't even sure it was Bakvissie. The bloat descended rapidly and Shimbaka only had seconds to swing up into the tree with Bakvissie. With portly monsters now surrounding them, Togo recalled Kiku's advice, "it is best to avoid these beasts while in water, as they can be rather fiery." Nevertheless, these hippos were on land — what is setting them off? It would have been much more helpful if Kiku told them, "Hey, don't sit with your back to a bloat of Hippos - you could get trampled." However, here they were, up a tree.

bloatadj/bləʊt/

• 1

  obsoletebloated.

  • Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed