Tumefy

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause swelling or enlargement in a part of the body; to produce inflammation or puffiness as a physical condition; to induce an abnormal increase in size or volume in tissue
2. To bring about the expansion or distension of a bodily area due to fluid accumulation or irritation; to make tissue become puffy or swollen; to effect a localized growth or enlargement often caused by injury or disease
3. To stimulate the rising or bulging of a part of the body by causing it to swell; to create a state of tumescence or engorgement in biological tissue; to generate a condition where an area becomes abnormally enlarged or raised due to internal causes

Etymology: "Tumefy" is a compound at heart: it joins the Latin "tumere", to swell, with "facere", to make. The Latin verb "tumefacere" meant to make something swell, and French took it up as "tuméfier" before English borrowed the verb from French. So the word literally means "to make swollen," with the swelling written into its first syllables. The Latin "tumere" traces back to an ancient root meaning something like "to be swelling," which is also the source of a number of English words tied to bulges and lumps. Its root sits behind the same idea of rising, pressing outward, and filling up that "tumefy" still carries. Because the word is a learned borrowing rather than an everyday English one, its shape stays visibly Latin: "tume-" points straight back to the swelling, and "-fy" marks the making.

Synonyms: swell, inflate, expand, bloat

Antonyms: shrink, contract, deflate