phat

Formsphatter, phattest

1. 1
   adjectiveslang

   Excellent, cool, or very good.

   Like saying a meal was a feast rather than just dinner.

   The crew rolled up in a phat ride that turned every head on the block.

   Everything about the party felt phat, from the sound system to the guest list.

   Similarcool, excellent, awesome, dope, brilliant

   Oppositelame, wack

   Note

   A word whose point is its spelling: African American Vernacular English respelled fat as phat, so the word reads as praise and not as a comment on size. Nas uses it on Illmatic in 1994, and by 2006 Noire's Thug-A-Licious applies it to mansions. Spoken aloud it sounds exactly like fat, so context carries the meaning. It is firmly slang, and it compares regularly: phatter, phattest.

2. 2
   adjectiveslang

   Voluptuous; having a full, curvy figure regarded as attractive.

   Admirers praised her phat curves throughout the pageant.

   The dancers were proud of their phat silhouettes on stage.

   Similargorgeous, attractive, beautiful, foxy, desirable

   Note

   Here the respelled word circles back toward fat itself, praising a full figure instead of criticizing it. Its closest company is foxy and thicc, and like them it remarks on someone's body. That makes it slang for friends who share the vocabulary, not for formal or professional talk. The story of the spelling belongs to the general praise word.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Of a sound or beat, rich in texture and prominent.

   The synth delivered a phat tone that filled the whole track.

   DJs prize a phat kick drum that punches through the mix.

   Similarprominent, juicy

   Oppositethin, tinny, weak

   Note

   A producer's and DJ's word for sound with weight: a phat bass line, a phat kick drum, a phat synth tone. It names fullness and presence in the mix, which is why it sits beside prominent and juicy. Unlike the general praise word, it describes the sound itself, so a phat bass line can sit in a track nobody likes.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   A card game of English origin, played in partnerships and based on taking tricks, that developed from all fours.

   Similar to whist or spades, but played in the older English all-fours tradition.

   The villagers gathered to play phat after the harvest was in.

   He learned phat from sailors during the long voyages south.

   Note

   A separate word that only looks like the slang adjective, with its own origin, so it has nothing to do with the hip-hop praise term. As the name of a game it is uncountable: people play phat, as they play all fours, the game it descends from. They do not play "a phat."

Showing meanings only. Show all 4