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Definition
to extend — especially the swelling outward of a part of the body; e.g., the stomach- One method of declawing is to severe the tendon that allows the claws to distend.
distend = extend
- She remembered the distended bellies of the starving cows.
- The surgeon uses irrigation fluid to distend the joint to create room to operate.
- During laparoscopy carbon dioxide gas is injected into the abdominal cavity to distend it so that organs can be viewed more easily.
- "Han," rasped Theresa then, eyes wide.
Helen froze.
The moment distended.
[when Theresa awakened at the hospital]Gish Jen -- Typical American - Other boys were appearing now, tiny tots some of them, brown, with the distended bellies of small savages.William Golding -- Lord of the Flies
- ...the eyelids, now more closely welded to the eyeball, now distended;Albert Camus -- The Plague
- ...that's why she's distended like a summer gourd.Amy Tan -- The Bonesetter's Daughter
- "Give him air. He's fainted."
The ring of onlookers distended and closed again elastically.James Joyce -- Dubliners - He will soon begin to gorge his prey, and slowly but surely it will disappear down that distended maw!Johann Wyss -- The Swiss Family Robinson
- He was in trouble, his abdomen distended and his nose and ears hot.John Steinbeck -- Travels with Charley
- As Scabior said it, Harry's scar, which was stretched tight across his distended forehead, burned savagely.J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- He felt her belly, not through the shirt but under it, his fingertips cold and rough like bark on her distended skin.Khaled Hosseini -- A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Dan used the steak knives, darning needles, hair curlers, and nylon line, all properly sterilized, and removed an appendix distended and near to bursting.Pat Frank -- Alas, Babylon
- the dusty, heavily distended, black-tarred wineskin that hung neck down from the wallErnest Hemingway -- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- She chewed quietly and steadily; at regular intervals a small distension passed smoothly down her throat.William Faulkner -- The Sound and the Fury
- Like a shark preparing to take bait, the goblin's jaws distended.Henry H. Neff -- The Maelstrom
- He stood on the distended belly of the mule for a platform and made gestures.Zora Neale Hurston -- Their Eyes Were Watching God
- She was misshapen; her belly, tight and heavy and distended, made it impossible for her to stand without supporting herself with her hands.John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
- In Cite Soleil, where people live in huts the size of outhouses with sewage creeping between their toes, a boy with a distended belly sits with the flies.Rick Bragg -- All Over but the Shoutin'
distended = swollen
distend = extend
distend = extend
distended = extended (seemed longer)
distended = swollen
distended = extended or swollen
distended = extended or swollen
distended = extended outward
distended = extended or swollen
distended = swollen (sticking out)
distended = extended or swollen
distended = sticking out (extended or swollen)
distended = extended or swollen
distended = extended (swollen outward)
distension = swelling
(editor's note: The suffix "-sion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in admission from admit, discussion from discuss, and invasion from invade.)
distended = extended
distended = extended outward
distended = extended or swollen
distended = swollen
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