Definition

Verb: * To cause someone or something to gain weight and become fuller or rounder in shape, often by providing more food.

Usage

• This verb is transitive and typically used with an object (someone or something that becomes fatter).
• It often implies an intentional action to improve health or condition through increased nourishment.
• The construction is usually: fatten out + [object].

Examples

• The farmers fatten out the pigs for several months before the market.
• After the rescue, the volunteers worked to fatten out the malnourished dog.
• Her goal was to fatten out her skinny arms with a new exercise and diet plan.

Advanced Usage

• The phrase can be used figuratively to describe adding substance or detail to something non-physical, such as a story or a plan.
  • The author needed to fatten out the second chapter with more descriptive passages.

Variants and Related Words

• Fatten up: A very common synonym with identical meaning and usage.
  • We need to fatten up the cattle before winter.
• Plump out: A synonym meaning to make or become rounder or fuller.
• Fatten (verb): The core verb meaning to make or become fat.

Synonyms

• Plump up
• Fill out
• Fatten up

Phrasal Verbs

• Fatten out is itself a phrasal verb. Its meaning is inseparable from the combination of "fatten" + "out".

Verb

1. make fat or plump
   • We will plump out that poor starving child