English

A caricature by James Gillray entitled “A Voluptuary under the Horrors of Digestion” (published 1792). It depicts the Prince of Wales, later George IV, as a glutton. At the time, the Prince was known for his voluptuousness and money problems due to his expensive habits.

Adjective

overnourished ‎(comparative more overnourished, superlative most overnourished)

1. Excessively nourished.
   • 1832 January 28, John Elliotson, “Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine; Delivered at London University, by Dr. Elliotson. Part I.—Lecture XVII.”, in London Medical Gazette; being a Weekly Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, volume IX, number 217, London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, Paternoster-Row, OCLC 729776530, pages 621–622:

     If a part obtain really an addition of substance, not dependent on transformation or new formation, it is said to be hypertrophied. This is a new word, but it is a very convenient one. The part suffers an excess of nourishment; it is therefore hypertrophied, over-nourished. […] You may have a part over-nourished without increasing in size—the excess may be such as merely to harden it, so that in one sense induration may be an hypertrophy: but very generally, when a part is over-nourished, it acquires a considerable excess of bulk.

   • 1994, LeeAnn Alexander-Mott and D. Barry Lumsden, editors, Understanding Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Obesity, Washington, D.C.; London: Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-56032-294-8, page 224:

     Peters Atlas of the World (1990) describes the following countries as being "overnourished" (defined as an average daily caloric consumption ≥3,500): United States of America, Greenland, Ireland, France, Netherlands, […] Two atlas maps suggest possible causal relationships with overnourishment. First, the absolute number of calories derived from fat is greater in overnourished than in other countries. Second, all of the countries considered overnourished are also highly urbanized, with more than 75% of their population living in cities […].

   • 2008, Jill Marie Koch, “Intrauterine Growth Restriction”, in Periconceptional Treatment with Growth Hormone Alters Fetal Growth and Development in Sheep (unpublished Ph.D. in Reproductive Physiology dissertation), Morgantown, W. Va.: Davis College of Agriculture Forestry and Consumer Sciences, West Virginia University, OCLC 232639421, page 31:

     The overnourished adolescent ewe model utilizes the hierarchy of nutrient partitioning to limit fetal placental growth. Normally, nutrition is shunted to the fetus to promote proper growth, but when the dam is still growing (i.e., adolescent) maternal growth takes priority above fetal growth which means nutrients are partitioned to maternal growth at the cost of the gravid uterus. […] Fetuses from overnourished ewes are normally small for their gestational age and born premature.

2. (often euphemistic) Overweight.
   • 1972 June, E. F. Lindsley, “The New Yard Tools that Finish the Job: Can Gardening be Fun? Yes, if You Use the New Labor-saving Tools on Backbreaking Jobs”, in Popular Science, volume 200, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Company, ISSN 0161-7370, page 18:

     Lawn vacuums will clean up grass cuttings either as behind-the-mower units or self-propelled or push-type outfits that look like an overnourished Hoover.

   • 2000 March 15, Philippine Daily Inquirer, page 9:

     Policemen who've grown uhhh, overnourished, by helping themselves to free meals at the expense of hapless carinderia owners.

   • 2013, Michael Baum, “London 1964–1967 part 1”, in The Third Tablet of the Holy Covenant, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, ISBN 978-1-78306-158-7, pages 219–220:

     The girls had done well but I also had to admit that the two attractive and stylish young women to whom I had barely given a second look as we were growing up, had flowered and flourished even though they looked somewhat overnourished to my taste.

Related terms

• overnourish
• overnourishment

Translations