fatten the curve

Verb

fatten the curve (third-person singular simple present fattens the curve, present participle fattening the curve, simple past and past participle fattened the curve)

1. (humorous) To fatten or gain weight due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
   • Did you hear about the town that was fattening the curve so much that the mayor had to take away everyone’s quarantinis?2020 June 2, “Quarantini? Moronavirus? COVID-10? Wordplay Brings Humor to These Times”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2024
   • Some people really got into the virtual way of working out in lockdown and we saw online exercise courses boom in lockdown… and others, like me, well, we fattened the curve and ate our feelings.2020 October 6, “Bailey’s High 5: 5 Ways to Ease Back into Exercise”, in Smile FM, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2024
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fatten, the, curve.
   • Just as important is the pen's ability to dawdle in midstroke, fattening the curve of a y, for example, while pondering whether to follow up with a comma or not.2012 October 23, Edmund Morris, This Living Hand: And Other Essays, Random House Publishing Group, page 93