bloat

UK: /bləʊt/ US: (blōt)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

bloat  (blōt), v.t. 

1. to expand or distend, as with air, water, etc.;
   cause to swell:
   Overeating bloated their bellies.
2. to puff up;
   make vain or conceited:
   The promotion has bloated his ego to an alarming degree.
3. to cure (fishes) as bloaters.

v.i. 

4. to become swollen;
   be puffed out or dilated:
   The carcass started to bloat.

n. 

5. Veterinary Diseases Also called hoven. (in cattle, sheep, and horses) a distention of the rumen or paunch or of the large colon by gases of fermentation, caused by eating ravenously of green forage, esp. legumes.
6. a person or thing that is bloated.
7. bloater (defs. 1, 2).

• Old Norse blautr wet, soft
• earlier bloat (adjective, adjectival) soft, puffy, Middle English blout 1250–1300

Synonyms

• 1. swell, inflate, enlarge, balloon.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

bloat / bləʊt/ verb

1. to swell or cause to swell, as with a liquid, air, or wind
2. to become or cause to be puffed up, as with conceit
3. (transitive) to cure (fish, esp herring) by half-drying in smoke

Etymology: 17th Century: probably related to Old Norse blautr soaked, Old English blāt pale