Lexic.us

Definition of Distend

1. Verb. Become wider. "His pupils were dilated"

2. Verb. Cause to expand as it by internal pressure. "The gas distended the animal's body"

3. Verb. Swell from or as if from internal pressure. "Did his feet distend?"; "The distended bellies of the starving cows"

Definition of Distend

1. v. t. To extend in some one direction; to lengthen out; to stretch.

2. v. i. To become expanded or inflated; to swell.

Definition of Distend

1. Verb. (intransitive) To extend or expand, as from internal pressure; to swell ¹

2. Verb. (transitive reflexive archaic) To extend; to stretch out; to spread out. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To cause to swell. ¹

4. Verb. (biology) To cause gravidity. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Distend

1. to swell [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: swell

Medical Definition of Distend

1. To become expanded or inflated; to swell. "His heart distends with pride." 1. To extend in some one direction; to lengthen out; to stretch. "But say, what mean those coloured streaks in heaven Distended as the brow of God appeased?" (Milton) 2. To stretch out or extend in all directions; to dilate; to enlarge, as by elasticity of parts; to inflate so as to produce tension; to cause to swell; as, to distend a bladder, the stomach, etc. "The warmth distends the chinks." (Dryden) Synonym: To dilate, expand, enlarge, swell, inflate. Origin: L. Distendere, distentum, distensum; dis- + tendere to stretch, stretch out: cf. F. Distendre to distend, detendre to unbend. See Tend, and cf. Detent. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Distend

distelfink distelfinks distemper distemper virus distemperance distemperances distemperate distemperately distemperature distemperatures

distempered distempering distemperment distemperments distempers distend (current term) distended distender distenders distending

distends distensibility distensible distension distensions distent distention distention cyst distention ulcer distentions

Literary usage of Distend

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Imperial Gazetteer of India by William Wilson Hunter (1886)
"Externally, they may be known by the singular fashion in which they distend the lobe of the ear. Until the British rule, the District was constantly liable ..."

2. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"... which painfully distend the bowels and increase the patient's suffering. The pain of colic is relieved by pressure over the abdomen, and there is no ..."

3. General pathology, or, The science of the causes, nature and course of the by Ernst Ziegler (1895)
"... in them inflammatory effusions, which not rarely reach a considerable bulk, distend the affected canty, and compress the organs contained therein. Pío. ..."

4. The London Medical Gazette (1834)
"... and is afterwards prevented from returning to its original or fœtal course. the parietes hy which they are enclosed, so as to distend the chest, ..."

5. The Medico-chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine (1845)
"When the tubercles are very abundant they may distend and enlarge the organ, but sometimes there is also hypertrophy independently of the tubercular deposit ..."

6. Self-formation; Or, The History of an Individual Mind: Intended as a Guide by Capel Lofft (1846)
"We should do like the wild Indians, who distend the coats of their stomachs with mere inert, dead matter, — clay, leaves, and such like ; not for the sake ..."

7. The Clinical Journal (1899)
"... of the renal sinus, and gradually distend the cortex until the tumour is surrounded by a thin capsule formed of expanded secreting tissue of the kidney. ..."

Other Resources: