bloat

Etymology

Perhaps from Middle English blot, blout (“soft; flexible; pliable”), from Old Norse blautr (“soft”), akin to Danish blød, Dutch bloot (“nude”) and German bloß (“nude”).

verb

1. To cause to become distended.
2. (intransitive, veterinary medicine) To get an overdistended rumen, talking of a ruminant.
3. To fill soft substance with gas, water, etc.; to cause to swell.
4. (intransitive) To become distended; to swell up.
5. To fill with vanity or conceit.
   1675, John Dryden, Prologue to Circe by Dr. Davenant Encourage him, and bloat him up with Praise
6. To preserve by slightly salting and lightly smoking.
   bloated herring
7. To increase to an excessive amount.
   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. December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian

noun

1. Distention of the abdomen from death.
2. (veterinary medicine) Pathological overdistention of rumen with gas in a ruminant.
3. (figurative) Wasteful use of space or other resources.
   Adding an e-mail feature to this simple text editor would be pointless bloat.
4. (derogatory, slang, dated) A worthless, dissipated fellow.

adj

1. (obsolete) bloated.
   Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, act 3, scene 4: The Queen's Closet