bloat (redirected from primary bloat)

bloat  (blt)

v. bloat·ed, bloat·ing, bloats

v.tr.

1. To cause to swell up or inflate, as with liquid or gas.

2. To cure (fish) by soaking in brine and half-drying in smoke.

v.intr.

To become swollen or inflated: "Government had bloated out of control" (Lance Morrow).

n.

1. A swelling of the rumen or intestinal tract of cattle and domestic animals that is caused by excessive gas formation following fermentation of ingested watery legumes or green forage.

2. An excess or surfeit, as of employees, expenses, or procedures: corporate bloat.

---

[From Middle English blout, soft, puffed, from Old Norse blautr, soft, soaked; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots.]

---

bloat

Verb

1. to cause to swell, as with a liquid or air

2. to cause to be puffed up, as with conceit

3. to cure (fish, esp. herring) by half drying in smoke [Old Norse blautr soaked]

bloated adj

---

Bloat of hippopotami—Lipton, 1970.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	bloat - swelling of the rumen or intestinal tract of domestic animals caused by excessive gas puffiness, swelling, lump - an abnormal protuberance or localized enlargement
Verb	1.	bloat - become bloated or swollen or puff up; "The dead man's stomach was bloated" swell up, tumesce, tumefy, intumesce, swell - expand abnormally; "The bellies of the starving children are swelling"
	2.	bloat - make bloated or swollen; "Hunger bloated the child's belly" distend - cause to expand as it by internal pressure; "The gas distended the animal's body" swell - cause to become swollen; "The water swells the wood"