fat

Etymology 1

From Middle English fat, from Old English fǣtt (“fatted, fat”), from Proto-West Germanic *faitid (“fatted”), originally the past participle of the verb *faitijan (“to make fat”), from *fait (“fat”).

adj

1. Carrying more fat than usual on one's body; plump; not lean or thin.
   The fat man had trouble getting through the door.
   The fattest pig should yield the most meat.
   1932, New Orleans (La.) Board of Health, Vox Sanitatis While Hennessey is pouring the milk, the fat guy with the big pot-belly, will come over and write a lot of junk in his little book.
   Because, really, who would like the fat girl? Sebastian said I was crazy for thinking that. 2014, Isabel Quintero, Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, Cinco Puntos Press, page 46
2. Thick; large.
   The fat wallets of the men from the city brought joy to the peddlers.
3. Bulbous; rotund.
4. Bountiful.
5. Oily; greasy; unctuous; rich (said of food).
6. (obsolete) Exhibiting the qualities of a fat animal; coarse; heavy; gross; dull; stupid.
   1855 July 21, Ralph Waldo Emerson, letter to Walter Whitman making our western wits fat & mean
7. Fertile; productive.
   a fat soil; a fat pasture
8. Rich; producing a large income; desirable.
   a fat benefice; a fat office;  a fat job
   now parson of Troston, a fat living in Suffolk 1882, Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences
9. Abounding in riches; affluent; fortunate.
   , "Why Christ's Doctrine was Rejected" persons grown fat and wealthy by a long and successful imposture
10. (dated, printing) Of a character which enables the compositor to make large wages; said of matter containing blank, cuts, or many leads, etc.
    a fat take; a fat page
11. (golf) Being a shot in which the ground is struck before the ball.
    Hitting a thin shot from a fairway bunker is more productive than hitting a fat shot. 1992, DeDe Owens, Linda K. Bunker, Advanced Golf: Steps to Success, page 81
12. (theater) Of a role: significant; major; meaty.
    He is what the theatre calls a “fat” role — a man suddenly confronted by a terrible duty. He is called upon to revenge the murder of his father and to right a wrong against the state. 1965, Edmund Fuller, A Pageant of the Theatre, page 131
    He seeks a fat role in a hit show, lest he diminish his market value. 1997, Harold Clurman, On Directing, page 12
    Joe Hirakawa, formerly of the Seattle Civic Repertory Theatre, was a waterfront peddler in “Madame Butterfly” and had a fat role in “Beauty Parlor,” an indie. 2012, Greg Robinson, Larry S. Tajiri, Pacific Citizens, page 9
13. (slang) Being greatly or substantially such; real.
    1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure I'd've liked to hang around but the guys were in a fat hurry.
14. Alternative form of phat
    This isn't a place to talk about “hitting the decks” and making “fat beats”—you're not selling to an industry peer. 2011, Joe Shambro, How to Start a Home-based DJ Business, page 19

noun

1. (uncountable) A specialized animal tissue with high lipid content, used for long-term storage of energy: fat tissue.
   Mammals that hibernate have plenty of fat to keep them warm during the winter.
   1. Such tissue as food: the fatty portion of (or trimmings from) meat cuts.
      Ask the butcher for a few pounds of fat for our greens.
2. (countable) A lipid that is solid at room temperature, which fat tissue contains and which is also found in the blood circulation; sometimes, a refined substance chemically resembling such naturally occurring lipids.
   Dietary fat is not the evil that it was once misapprehended to be; carbs are increasingly recognized as a bigger driver of atherosclerosis via chronic insulin resistance and the vascular processes that cascade from it.
   In fact, the fats that are most stable and least likely to oxidize with heat are the highly saturated fats we've long been told to avoid—lard, tallow, butter, and coconut and palm oils. 2018, Kristin Lawless, Formerly known as food, page 32
3. That part of an organization deemed wasteful.
   We need to trim the fat in this company
4. (slang) An erection.
   I saw Daniel crack a fat.
5. (golf) A poorly played shot where the ball is struck by the top part of the club head. (see also thin, shank, toe)
6. The best or richest productions; the best part.
   to live on the fat of the land
7. (dated, printing) Work containing much blank, or its equivalent, and therefore profitable to the compositor.
8. (informal, derogatory) A fat person.
   Prefer military, bodybuilders, jocks. No smokers or fats please. 1996, Roger Stone, "Local Swing Fever", highlighted by National Enquirer in September 1996 and Daily Mail in January 2019
9. A beef cattle fattened for sale.
   Before riding over to the fats we'll have a look about us. 1934, Henry G. Lamond, An Aviary On The Plains, page 7

verb

1. (transitive, archaic) To make fat; to fatten.
   kill the fatted calf
2. (intransitive, archaic) To become fat; to fatten.
3. (transitive, golf) To hit (a golf ball) with a fat shot.
   “On this one hole, Donald hits his second and fats it into the water,” Faxon remembers. “But he quickly says to me, ‘Hey, throw me another ball; they weren’t looking.’ So I do. But he fats that one into the water, too. So he drives up and drops where he should’ve dropped the first time and hits it on the green.” 2019-04-02, Rick Reilly, How and why President Trump cheats at golf — even when he’s playing against Tiger Woods, archived from the original on 2022-03-29

Etymology 2

From Middle English fat, from Old English fæt (“vat, vessel, jar, cup, casket, division”), from Proto-Germanic *fatą (“vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *pod- (“vessel”). Cognate with Dutch vat (“barrel, vessel”), German Fass (“barrel, drum”), Swedish fat (“barrel, dish, cask”). See vat.

noun

1. (obsolete) A large tub or vessel for water, wine, or other liquids; a cistern.
   In 1431 New College purchases brewing vessels, under the names of a mash fat, for 6s. 10d., a wort fat for 2s., a 'Gilleding' tub for 2s. 6d., and two tunning barrels at 8d. each, a leaden boiler for 24s., another for 12s., and a great copper beer pot for 13s. 4d. 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 429
2. (obsolete) A dry measure, generally equal to nine bushels.