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Verb: distend  di'stend
  1. Swell from or as if from internal pressure
    "The distended bellies of the starving cows"
     
  2. Cause to expand as if by internal pressure
    "The gas distended the animal's body"
     
  3. 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