distend

(redirected from distends)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical.

dis·tend

 (dĭ-stĕnd′)
v. dis·tend·ed, dis·tend·ing, dis·tends
v.intr.
To swell out or expand, especially from internal pressure: The puppies ate until their stomachs distended.
v.tr.
To cause to expand, especially from internal pressure; dilate: Fluid distends a blister.

[Middle English distenden, from Latin distendere : dis-, dis- + tendere, to stretch; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

dis·ten′si·ble (dĭ-stĕn′sə-bəl) adj.
dis·ten′si·bil′i·ty n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

distend

(dɪˈstɛnd)
vb
1. to expand or be expanded by or as if by pressure from within; swell; inflate
2. (tr) to stretch out or extend
3. (tr) to magnify in importance; exaggerate
[C14: from Latin distendere, from dis-1 + tendere to stretch]
disˈtender n
disˈtensible adj
disˌtensiˈbility n
disˈtension, disˈtention n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dis•tend

(dɪˈstɛnd)

v.t., v.i.
1. to expand by stretching, as something hollow or elastic.
2. to spread in all directions; expand.
[1375–1425; < Latin distendere=dis- dis-1 + tendere to stretch]
dis•tend′er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

distend


Past participle: distended
Gerund: distending

Imperative
distend
distend
Present
I distend
you distend
he/she/it distends
we distend
you distend
they distend
Preterite
I distended
you distended
he/she/it distended
we distended
you distended
they distended
Present Continuous
I am distending
you are distending
he/she/it is distending
we are distending
you are distending
they are distending
Present Perfect
I have distended
you have distended
he/she/it has distended
we have distended
you have distended
they have distended
Past Continuous
I was distending
you were distending
he/she/it was distending
we were distending
you were distending
they were distending
Past Perfect
I had distended
you had distended
he/she/it had distended
we had distended
you had distended
they had distended
Future
I will distend
you will distend
he/she/it will distend
we will distend
you will distend
they will distend
Future Perfect
I will have distended
you will have distended
he/she/it will have distended
we will have distended
you will have distended
they will have distended
Future Continuous
I will be distending
you will be distending
he/she/it will be distending
we will be distending
you will be distending
they will be distending
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been distending
you have been distending
he/she/it has been distending
we have been distending
you have been distending
they have been distending
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been distending
you will have been distending
he/she/it will have been distending
we will have been distending
you will have been distending
they will have been distending
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been distending
you had been distending
he/she/it had been distending
we had been distending
you had been distending
they had been distending
Conditional
I would distend
you would distend
he/she/it would distend
we would distend
you would distend
they would distend
Past Conditional
I would have distended
you would have distended
he/she/it would have distended
we would have distended
you would have distended
they would have distended
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.distend - become wider; "His pupils were dilated"
widen - become broader or wider or more extensive; "The road widened"
2.distend - cause to expand as it by internal pressure; "The gas distended the animal's body"
distend - swell from or as if from internal pressure; "The distended bellies of the starving cows"
bloat - make bloated or swollen; "Hunger bloated the child's belly"
3.distend - swell from or as if from internal pressure; "The distended bellies of the starving cows"
swell up, tumesce, tumefy, intumesce, swell - expand abnormally; "The bellies of the starving children are swelling"
distend - cause to expand as it by internal pressure; "The gas distended the animal's body"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

distend

verb swell, stretch, expand, increase, widen, balloon, puff, enlarge, inflate, bulge, dilate, bloat The large intestine distends and fills with gas.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations

distend

[dɪsˈtend]
A. VTdilatar, hinchar
B. VIdilatarse, hincharse
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

distend

[dɪˈstɛnd]
vi (= swell) [stomach] → se distendre
vt [+ stomach] → distendre
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

distend

vt balloon(auf)blasen; sails, stomach(auf)blähen
visich blähen
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

distend

[dɪsˈtɛnd]
1. vtdilatare
2. vidilatarsi
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

distend

vt. distender, dilatar; distenderse, dilatarse.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

distend

vt distender; to become distended distender(se)
English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
Next minute "the unobstructed beam" was shining right into the knapsack itself, for all the world like one of those little demon electric lights with which the dentist makes a momentary treasure-cave of your distended jaws, flashing with startled stalactite.
The skin about the abdomen is much looser than that on the back; hence, during the inflation, the lower surface becomes far more distended than the upper; and the fish, in consequence, floats with its back downwards.
In the general uproar one could hear every individual drop strike on the stout and distended silk.
Then he would withdraw growling viciously, backing away with grinning jaws distended, to sulk for an hour or so.
It has a sort of howdah on its back, and its distended tusked mouth into which the billows are rolling, might be taken for the Traitors' Gate leading from the Thames by water into the Tower.
Of course Ginger was very much excited; she flung up her head with flashing eyes and distended nostrils, declaring that men were both brutes and blockheads.
Violent without craftiness, and furious without malice, one may imagine him seated masterfully with a double-edged sword on his knees upon the painted and gilt clouds of the sunset, bowing his shock head of golden locks, a flaming beard over his breast, imposing, colossal, mighty-limbed, with a thundering voice, distended cheeks and fierce blue eyes, urging the speed of his gales.
In the mean-while all the shore rang with the trump of bullfrogs, the sturdy spirits of ancient wine-bibbers and wassailers, still unrepentant, trying to sing a catch in their Stygian lake -- if the Walden nymphs will pardon the comparison, for though there are almost no weeds, there are frogs there -- who would fain keep up the hilarious rules of their old festal tables, though their voices have waxed hoarse and solemnly grave, mocking at mirth, and the wine has lost its flavor, and become only liquor to distend their paunches, and sweet intoxication never comes to drown the memory of the past, but mere saturation and waterloggedness and distention.