engorgement
[ I ] biology specialized
If an insect engorges, it feeds on something, especially blood, until it is full and swollen:
A tick must engorge on the blood of an infected vertebrate to acquire the infection.
This reduced the number of female ticks engorging on the bodies of cattle.
We are more likely to snore after drinking, because alcohol engorges blood vessels in the nose.
The proportion of tsetse flies that engorged does not accurately reflect the success with which they obtained blood meals.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases Enlarging and inflating
augmentation
balloon
bloat
broaden
build (someone/something) up
bulk
explosively
flare
fluff something up
implacably
inflation
lengthen
maximize
puff
pump someone up
reinflate
reinflation
scale something up
stretch
uninflated
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Becoming bigger
Eating