Meanings
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1
verb
swell from or as if from internal pressure
The distended bellies of the starving cows.
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2
verb
cause to expand as it by internal pressure
The gas distended the animal's body.
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3
verb
To extend; to stretch out; to spread out.
These impure and frail matters are conteined within the angust concave of the Lunar Orb, above which with uninterrupted Series the things Celestial distend themselves.
Thesaurus
Word family
Derived forms
distendabledistenderdistensibledistensive
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin distendō.