The Collaborative International Dictionary
Distend \Dis*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distended; p. pr. & vb. n. Distending.] [L. distendere, distentum, distensum; dis- + tendere to stretch, stretch out: cf. F. distendre to distend, d['e]tendre to unbend. See Tend, and cf. Detent.]
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To extend in some one direction; to lengthen out; to stretch. [R.]
But say, what mean those colored streaks in heaven Distended as the brow of God appeased?
--Milton. -
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.Syn: To dilate; expand; enlarge; swell; inflate.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of distend English)
Usage examples of "distending".
Worst for choosing to love was the cerebro-and-spinal fluids which dribbled at all times from her distending oral cavity.
Two more blue-steel chairs were distending up out of the circular pools of silver on the floor.
The massif of cloud seemed to be hurtling towards them, a light-absorbing void distending across the ocean.
They were clustered round each tree, anonymous lumps, distending as they started to decompose.
As versus the spot's animated adult who we see in a recliner ostensibly watching the Canadian cartridge, little spirals going around and around in his eyes as his body sort of melts and his head starts growing and distending until the passive watching adult's image is just a huge five-o'clock-shadowed head in the recliner, his eyeballs huge and whirling.
He twisted himself through a spiral, his mane distending threateningly as he rebuked them.
His head swayed slowly as he sang, his throat distending and then stretching as he pumped out the deep, rich notes.
But everywhere was a confusing sameness, everywhere the aspiring bushes, the distending fungi, the dwindling snow banks, steadily and inevitably changed.
Ever and again one of the bladder fungi, bulging and distending under the sun, loomed upon us.