bloat

Meanings

Verb

• to cause to become distended.
• (veterinary medicine) to get an overdistended rumen, talking of a ruminant.
• to fill soft substance with gas, water, etc.; to cause to swell.
• to become distended; to swell up.
• to fill with vanity or conceit.
• to preserve by slightly salting and lightly smoking.

Noun

• Distention of the abdomen from death.
• Pathological overdistention of rumen with gas in a ruminant.
• Wasteful use of space or other resources.
• A worthless, dissipated fellow.

Adjective

• bloated.

Origin

• Perhaps from Middle English blot, blout, from Old Norse blautr ("soft"), akin to Danish blød, Dutch bloot ("nude") and German bloß ("nude").