n.
- The ester of glycerol and one, two, or three fatty acids.
- Any of various soft, solid, or semisolid organic compounds constituting the esters of glycerol and fatty acids and their associated organic groups.
- A mixture of such compounds occurring widely in organic tissue, especially in the adipose tissue of animals and in the seeds, nuts, and fruits of plants.
- Animal tissue containing such substances.
- A solidified animal or vegetable oil.
- Obesity; corpulence.
- The best or richest part: living off the fat of the land.
- Unnecessary excess: "would drain the appropriation's fat without cutting into education's muscle" (New York Times).
- Having much or too much fat or flesh; plump or obese.
- Full of fat or oil; greasy.
- Abounding in desirable elements.
- Fertile or productive; rich: "It was a fine, green, fat landscape" (Robert Louis Stevenson).
- Having an abundance or amplitude; well-stocked: a fat larder.
- Yielding profit or plenty; lucrative or rewarding: a fat promotion.
- Prosperous; wealthy: grew fat on illegal profits.
- Thick; large: a fat book.
- Puffed up; swollen: a fat lip.
To make or become fat; fatten.
idioms:
a fat lot Slang.
- Very little or none at all: a fat lot of good it will do him.
- Very little or no chance.
[Middle English, from Old English fǣtt, fatted.]
fatly fat'ly adv.fatness fat'ness n.
SYNONYMS fat, obese, corpulent, fleshy, portly, stout, pudgy, rotund, plump, chubby. These adjectives mean having an abundance and often an excess of flesh. Fat implies excessive weight and generally has negative connotations: was getting fat and decided to exercise. Obese and corpulent imply gross overweight: "a woman of robust frame . . . though stout, not obese" (Charlotte Brontë). The dancer was corpulent but surprisingly graceful. Fleshy implies a not necessarily excessive abundance of flesh: firm, fleshy arms. Portly refers to bulk combined with a stately or imposing bearing: "a portly, rubicund man of middle age" (Winston Churchill). Stout denotes a thickset, bulky figure: a painting of stout peasants. Pudgy means short and fat: pudgy fingers. Rotund suggests roundness of figure, often in a squat person: "this pink-faced rotund specimen of prosperity" (George Eliot). Plump and chubby apply to a pleasing fullness of figure: a plump little toddler; chubby cheeks.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
