/ fæt; NAmE / adjective , noun
■ adjective ( fat·ter , fat·test )
1.
( of a person's or an animal's body ) having too much flesh on it and weighing too much :
a big fat man / woman
You'll get fat if you eat so much chocolate.
He grew fatter and fatter.
fat flabby legs
OPP thin
2.
thick or wide :
a fat volume on American history
3.
[ only before noun ] ( informal ) large in quantity; worth a lot of money :
a fat sum / profit
He gave me a nice fat cheque.
► fat·ness noun [ U ]:
Fatness tends to run in families.
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IDIOMS
- (a) fat chance (of sth / doing sth)
- a fat lot of good, use, etc.
- it's not over until the fat lady sings
■ noun
1.
[ U ] a white or yellow substance in the bodies of animals and humans, stored under the skin :
excess body fat
This ham has too much fat on it.
2.
[ C , U ] a solid or liquid substance from animals or plants, treated so that it becomes pure for use in cooking :
Cook the meat in shallow fat.
3.
[ C , U ] animal and vegetable fats, when you are thinking of them as part of what a person eats :
You should cut down on fats and carbohydrates.
foods which are low in fat
reduced-fat margarines
•
IDIOMS
see chew verb , live (I)
••
VOCABULARY BUILDING
saying that someone is fat
Fat is the most common and direct word, but it is not polite to say to someone that they are fat:
Does this dress make me look fat?
• You're looking fat now.
Overweight is a more neutral word:
I'm a bit overweight.
It can also mean too fat, especially so that you are not fit.
Large or heavy is less offensive than fat :
She's a rather large woman.
Big describes someone who is tall as well as fat:
Her sister is a big girl, isn't she?
Plump means slightly fat in an attractive way, often used to describe women.
Chubby is used mainly to describe babies and children who are fat in a pleasant, healthy-looking way:
the baby's chubby cheeks.
Tubby ( informal ) is used in a friendly way to describe people who are short and round, especially around the stomach.
Stocky is a neutral word and means fairly short, broad and strong.
Stout is often used to describe older people who have a round and heavy appearance:
a short stout man with a bald head
.
Flabby describes flesh that is fat and loose and it can sound offensive:
exercises to firm up flabby thighs.
Obese is used by doctors to describe people who are so fat that they are unhealthy. It is also used in a general way to mean 'really fat'.
Note that although people talk a lot about their own size or weight, it is generally not considered polite to refer to a person's large size or their weight when you talk to them.
· note at thin
••
WORD FAMILY
fat adjective
fatty adjective
fatten verb
fattening adjective
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English fǣtt well fed, plump , also fatty, oily , of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vet and German feist .