inflate

Etymology

From Latin īnflātus, perfect passive participle of īnflō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of inblow.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: ĭn-flāt', IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfleɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Verb

inflate (third-person singular simple present inflates, present participle inflating, simple past and past participle inflated)

1. (transitive) To enlarge an object by pushing air (or a gas) into it; to raise or expand abnormally

   You inflate a balloon by blowing air into it.

   • 1782, John Scott of Amwell, An Essay on Painting:

     When passion's tumults in the bosom rise, / Inflate the features, and enrage the eyes.

2. (intransitive) To enlarge by filling with air (or a gas).

   The balloon will inflate if you blow into it.

3. (figurative) To swell; to puff up.

   to inflate somebody with pride or vanity

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 137:

     [I]f they find / Some stain or blemish in a name of note, / Not grieving that their greatest are so small, / Inflate themselves with some insane delight, / And judge all nature from her feet of clay, […]

4. (transitive, computing) To decompress (data) that was previously deflated.
5. (figurative, transitive) To represent something as being more important, better, or worse than it actually is; to exaggerate.

   Israel routinely claims that the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas, has a tendency to inflate the number of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip.

Participle

īnflāte

1. vocative masculine singular of īnflātus

Adverb

īnflātē (comparative īnflātius, superlative īnflātissimē)

1. haughtily, proudly, pompously

References

• “inflate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “inflate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inflate in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• inflate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Verb

inflate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of inflar combined with te