distent

English

Etymology

Latin distentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪsˈtɛnt/

Adjective

distent (comparative more distent, superlative most distent)

1. distended
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Some others were new driven, and distent
     Into great ingowes

   • 1728, James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     The North-east spends his rage; he now shut up
     Within his iron cave, the effusive South
     Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven
     Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers distent.

Noun

distent (countable and uncountable, plural distents)

1. (obsolete) breadth
   • 1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC:

     […] shall yet be distended, one fourteenth part longer then the sayd entire Diameter; which addition of distent will conferre much to their Beauty, and detract but little from their Strength

References

• “distent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• dentist, stinted

Latin

Verb

distent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of distō