fat Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a soft greasy substance occurring in organic tissue and consisting of a mixture of lipids (mostly triglycerides)
    • pizza has too much fat
  2. noun a kind of body tissue containing stored fat that serves as a source of energy; it also cushions and insulates vital organs
    fatty tissue; adipose tissue.
    • fatty tissue protected them from the severe cold
  3. noun excess bodily weight
    blubber; avoirdupois; fatness.
    • she disliked fatness in herself as well as in others
  4. verb make fat or plump
    fatten up; fill out; flesh out; fatten; fatten out; plump out; plump.
    • We will plump out that poor starving child
  5. adjective having an (over)abundance of flesh
    • he hadn't remembered how fat she was
  6. adjective satellite having a relatively large diameter
    • a fat rope
  7. adjective containing or composed of fat
    fatty.
    • fatty food
    • fat tissue
  8. adjective satellite lucrative
    juicy.
    • a juicy contract
    • a nice fat job
  9. adjective satellite marked by great fruitfulness
    productive; fertile; rich.
    • fertile farmland
    • a fat land
    • a productive vineyard
    • rich soil

WordNet

Fat noun
Etymology
See Vat, n.
Definitions
  1. A large tub, cistern, or vessel; a vat. Obs.
    The fats shall overflow with wine and oil. Joel ii. 24.
  2. A measure of quantity, differing for different commodities. Obs. Hebert.
Fat adjective
Etymology
AS. f&aemac;tt; akin to D. vet, G. fett, feist, Icel. feitr, Sw. fet, Dan. fed, and perh. to Gr. pi^dax spring, fountain, pidy`ein to gush forth, pi`wn fat, Skr. pi to swell.
Wordforms
comparative Fatter ; superlative Fattest
Definitions
  1. Abounding with fat; as: (a) Fleshy; characterized by fatness; plump; corpulent; not lean; as, a fat man; a fat ox. (b) Oily; greasy; unctuous; rich; -- said of food.
  2. Exhibiting the qualities of a fat animal; coarse; heavy; gross; dull; stupid.
    Making our western wits fat and mean. Emerson.
    Make the heart of this people fat. Is. vi. 10.
  3. Fertile; productive; as, a fat soil; a fat pasture.
  4. Rich; producing a large income; desirable; as, a fat benefice; a fat office; a fat job.
    Now parson of Troston, a fat living in Suffolk. Carlyle.
  5. Abounding in riches; affluent; fortunate. Obs.
    Persons grown fat and wealthy by long impostures. Swift.
  6. (Typog.) Of a character which enables the compositor to make large wages; -- said of matter containing blank, cuts, or many leads, etc.; as, a fat take; a fat page.
Fat noun
Definitions
  1. (Physiol. Chem.) An oily liquid or greasy substance making up the main bulk of the adipose tissue of animals, and widely distributed in the seeds of plants. See Adipose tissue, under Adipose. ✍ Animal fats are composed mainly of three distinct fats, tristearin, tripalmitin, and triolein, mixed in varying proportions. As olein is liquid at ordinary temperatures, while the other two fats are solid, it follows that the consistency or hardness of fats depends upon the relative proportion of the three individual fats. During the life of an animal, the fat is mainly in a liquid state in the fat cells, owing to the solubility of the two solid fats in the more liquid olein at the body temperature. Chemically, fats are composed of fatty acid, as stearic, palmitic, oleic, etc., united with glyceryl. In butter fat, olein and palmitin predominate, mixed with another fat characteristic of butter, butyrin. In the vegetable kingdom many other fats or glycerides are to be found, as myristin from nutmegs, a glyceride of lauric acid in the fat of the bay tree, etc.
  2. The best or richest productions; the best part; as, to live on the fat of the land.
  3. (Typog.) Work. containing much blank, or its equivalent, and, therefore, profitable to the compositor.
Fat transitive verb
Etymology
OE. fatten, AS. fttian. See Fat, a., and cf. Fatten.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Fatted ; present participle & verbal noun atting
Definitions
  1. To make fat; to fatten; to make plump and fleshy with abundant food; as, to fat fowls or sheep.
    We fat all creatures else to fat us. Shak.
Fat intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To grow fat, plump, and fleshy.
    An old ox fats as well, and is as good, as a young one. Mortimer.

Webster 1913