enlargement
nounUK /ɪnˈlɑːd͡ʒ.mənt/ · CA, US /ɪnˈlɑɹd͡ʒ.mənt/
Etymology From enlarge + -ment.
1
An act or instance of making something larger.
- Rick was ashamed about the size of his penis, so he had a penis enlargement.
2
Figuratively A making more obvious or serious; exacerbation.
- Bathsheba underwent the enlargement of her husband's absence from hours to days with a slight feeling of surprise, and a slight feeling of relief; yet neither sensation rose at any time far above the level commonly designated as indifference.1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, 2005 Barnes & Noble Classics publication of 1912 Wessex edition, p.337
3
An image, particularly a photograph, that has been enlarged.
4
Obsolete Freedom from confinement; liberty.
- Go, tenderness of years; take this key, give enlargement to the swain, bring him festinately hither.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
5
Diffuseness of speech or writing; a speaking at length.
- Briefly, a discourse generally consists in some prefatory remarks which pave the way as it were for the enlargement upon which a speaker usually enters when he speaks to any purpose.1897, Peter Joseph Cooke, Forensic Eloquence, page 40:
- He could discover very little further interest in his breakfast and turned to the other papers for possible enlargement of the details.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- benign prostate enlargement