Verb: distend di'stend
- Swell from or as if from internal pressure
"The distended bellies of the starving cows"
- Cause to expand as if by internal pressure
"The gas distended the animal's body"
- Become wider
"His stomach distended after the large meal";
- dilate
Derived forms: distended, distends, distending
Type of: bloat, intumesce, puff, swell, swell up, tumefy, tumesce, widen
Encyclopedia: Distend