In Weinbaum et al. (1976) a simple new pressure hypothesis is derived which enables one to take account of the displacement interaction, the geometrical change in streamline radius of curvature and centrifugal effects in the thick viscous layers surrounding two-dimensional bluff bodies in the intermediate Reynolds number range O(1) < Re < O(102) using conventional Prandtl boundary-layer equations. The new pressure hypothesis states that the streamwise pressure gradient as a function of distance from the forward stagnation point on the displacement body is equal to the wall pressure gradient as a function of distance along the original body. This hypothesis is shown to be equivalent to stretching the streamwise body co-ordinate in conventional first-order boundary-layer theory. The present investigation shows that the same pressure hypothesis applies for the intermediate Reynolds number flow past axisymmetric bluff bodies except that the viscous term in the conventional axisymmetric boundary-layer equation must also be modified for transverse curvature effects O(δ) in the divergence of the stress tensor. The approximate solutions presented for the location of separation and the detailed surface pressure and vorticity distribution for the flow past spheres, spheroids and paraboloids of revolution at various Reynolds numbers in the range O(1) < Re < O(102) are in good agreement with available numerical Navier–Stokes solutions.