Enlarge
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ɪnˈlÉ‘ËdÊ’/
- Rhymes: -É‘Ë(r)dÊ’
Origin
From Old French enlarger.
Full definition of enlarge
Verb
- (transitive) To make larger.
- (transitive) To increase the capacity of; to expand; to give free scope or greater scope to; also, to dilate, as with joy, affection, etc.Knowledge enlarges the mind.
- Bible, 2 Corinthians vi. 11O ye Corinthians, our ... heart is enlarged.
- (intransitive) To speak at length upon or on (some subject)
- 1664, Samuel Butler, Hudibras 2.2.68:I shall enlarge upon the Point.
- (archaic) To release; to set at large.
- 1580, Philip Sidney, Arcadia 329:Like a Lionesse lately enlarged.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:Finding no meanes how I might us enlarge,
But if that Dwarfe I could with me convay,
I lightly snatcht him up and with me bore away. - BarrowIt will enlarge us from all restraints.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act II Scene II:Uncle of Exeter, enlarge the man committed yesterday, that rail'd against our person. We consider it was excess of wine that set him on.
- (nautical) To get more astern or parallel with the vessel's course; to draw aft; said of the wind.
- (legal) To extend the time allowed for compliance with (an order or rule).