Pronunciations (4)
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/bləʊt/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/bloʊt/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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bləʊt
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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bloʊt
Pronunciation notes
- US
Verb
To cause to become distended.
To get an overdistended rumen, talking of a ruminant.
Usage- Intransitive
To fill soft substance with gas, water, etc.; to cause to swell.
To become distended; to swell up.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
if a Person of a firm Conſtitution begins to bloat, and from being warm grows cold, his Fibres grow weak, Anxiety and Palpitations of the Heart are a ſign of weak Fibres
To fill with vanity or conceit.
- Examples
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1675, John Dryden, Prologue to Circe by Dr. Davenant Encourage him, and bloat him up with Praise
To preserve by slightly salting and lightly smoking.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
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bloated herring
To increase to an excessive amount.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
In the UK, the fraction of electricity generated by nuclear plants has slid steadily downwards, from 25% in the 1990s to 16% in 2020. Of the five nuclear stations still producing power, only one will run beyond 2028. Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear plant in a generation, is being built in Somerset, but its cost has bloated to more than £25bn.
Noun
Distention of the abdomen from death.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
Pathological overdistention of rumen with gas in a ruminant.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
- ruminal tympany
Wasteful use of space or other resources.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Adding an e-mail feature to this simple text editor would be pointless bloat.
A worthless, dissipated fellow.
Usage- Countable
- Dated
- Derogatory
- Slang
- Uncountable
A group of hippopotamuses.
Usage- collective
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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A group of hippos is called a bloat.
More examples (1)
It was a massive bloat of hippopotamus making a beeline right for them. Bakvissie didn't have to be told twice, he scrambled over Shimbaka's head and straight up into the tree so fast that Shimbaka wasn't even sure it was Bakvissie. The bloat descended rapidly and Shimbaka only had seconds to swing up into the tree with Bakvissie. With portly monsters now surrounding them, Togo recalled Kiku's advice, "it is best to avoid these beasts while in water, as they can be rather fiery." Nevertheless, these hippos were on land — what is setting them off? It would have been much more helpful if Kiku told them, "Hey, don't sit with your back to a bloat of Hippos - you could get trampled." However, here they were, up a tree.
One evening I crawled into the pup tent I was sharing with John Yost on a beach pockmarked with hoofprints across from a bloat of hippos blowing their tubas.
More examples (1)
They thought about pulling ashore to camp, however bloats of hippos, teams of crocks, and swarms of mozzies changed their minds.
Adjective
bloated.
Usage- Obsolete
- Related words
- Examples
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Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed
Noun
swelling of the rumen or intestinal tract of domestic animals caused by excessive gas
Verb
become bloated or swollen or puff up
- Examples
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The dead man's stomach was bloated
make bloated or swollen
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Hunger bloated the child's belly