Definition

1. Verb:
   • To feed up, to fatten: The primary meaning of "vỗ béo" is to feed an animal intensively and specially to make it gain weight and become fat quickly, typically for economic purposes like selling or slaughtering.
   • To enrich, to make prosperous (figurative): In a figurative sense, "vỗ béo" can be used to describe the act of making someone or something rich, powerful, or prosperous, often through illicit or exploitative means.

Usage Examples

• Verb (Literal meaning):

  • Người nông dân đang vỗ béo đàn lợn trước Tết. (The farmer is fattening up the herd of pigs before Tet.)
  • Muốn thịt ngon, phải vỗ béo gà thật kỹ. (To have delicious meat, you must fatten the chickens very carefully.)

• Verb (Figurative meaning):

  • Công ty đó chỉ tìm cách vỗ béo túi tiền của giám đốc. (That company only seeks to fatten the director's wallet.)
  • Chính sách đó đã vỗ béo một nhóm lợi ích nhỏ. (That policy has enriched a small interest group.)

Advanced Usage

• "vỗ béo" + direct object: The structure is typically transitive, directly acting on the object being fattened or enriched.
  • Không nên vỗ béo thú cưng quá mức. (You shouldn't overfeed/fatten your pet excessively.)
• Used in economic or critical social contexts to imply unfair accumulation.
  • Các hợp đồng tham nhũng đã vỗ béo các quan chức. (Corrupt contracts have fattened the officials.)

Variants and Related Words

• Vỗ (verb): To pat, to clap, to fatten (as in "vỗ béo"). It is the root verb implying an action to improve condition.
• Béo (adjective): Fat. The result of the action "vỗ".
• Chăn nuôi vỗ béo (noun phrase): Fattening husbandry/livestock farming.
• Chu kỳ vỗ béo (noun phrase): Fattening cycle.

Synonyms

• Vỗ (in the context of animal husbandry): to fatten.
• Cho ăn nhiều: to feed a lot (more general, less specific to the purpose of fattening).
• Làm béo lên: to make fat (descriptive, less idiomatic).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Vỗ béo tập trung: Intensive fattening.
  • Mô hình vỗ béo tập trung cho năng suất cao. (The intensive fattening model yields high productivity.)

Related Idioms

• Vỗ béo túi tiền: To line one's pockets (literally: to fatten one's wallet). A common idiom criticizing corruption or greed.
  • Hắn ta chỉ lo vỗ béo túi tiền của mình. (He only cares about lining his own pockets.)
• Vỗ béo cho kẻ khác: To fatten (something) for someone else (often implying one does the work but another reaps the benefits).
  • Làm thế chẳng khác nào vỗ béo cho đối thủ. (Doing that is no different than fattening up the competition.)

verb

1. to feed up, to fatten