enlarge

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enlargen,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French enlargier, also enlargir,^{[2][5][6][7][8]} formed from en- (“make, put in”) and large (“broad, wide; generous”),^[6][3][4][9] which is from Latin largus (“abundant, plentiful; generous”).^[6] The ODE notes a former English spelling “inlarge”.^[9][10] Some uses, especially "to set free", follow eslargir, modern French élargir.^{[8][7][10][11]} The Middle English Dictionary compares alargen and eslargen,^[2] and Etymonline notes a Middle English verb large, to extend or increase, that did not survive.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To increase something abstract, or to make the heart more generous: about 1350, in a Middle English prose psalter, “As tou enlarged mi hert in godnisse”.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date the verb to about 1350, as intransitive “grow fat, increase”, and Etymonline dates the transitive “make larger” to about 1400.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense spread in the late 14th century: to lengthen a wharf (1384),^[2] to increase the size of a thing or the amount of anything (about 1380, in Wyclif),^[7] and to extend a territory or its boundaries (about 1400, in Mandeville's Travels).^[7] From the early 16th century the verb also meant to set free from confinement, after French élargir, a sense now somewhat archaic;^[12][8][7] Weekley quotes a newspaper of 1918 on roe deer being enlarged between Chingford and Loughton.^[11] Figurative uses followed: to extend the range of something (1553), to “enlarge the heart” after the King James Bible (1611), and to broaden the mind (1665).^[7][12] The sense of speaking or writing at length, now enlarge on, is recorded from the 1650s.^[6][12][8] Johnson (1755) put “to make greater in quantity or appearance” first.^[13] The photographic sense, to make a print larger than the negative, appears in 1866.^[7][5] Sailors say that the wind enlarges when it veers from the side towards the stern.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – to increase, to make the heart more generous.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date the intransitive “grow fat, increase” to about 1350.^[5][6]
• c. 1380 – to increase the size or amount of something.^[7]
• c. 1400 – to extend a territory or its boundaries.^[7]
• before 1513 – to set free from confinement.^[12]
• 1553 – to extend the range or scope of something.^[7]
• 1592 – to exaggerate (obsolete after 1728).^[7][12]
• 1608 – noun, release from confinement.^[7]
• 1659 – intransitive, to speak at large, expatiate.^[12]
• 1665 – to broaden the mind.^[7]
• 1866 – photography, to make a print larger than the negative.^[7][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make larger in size, extent or scope; to expand: The council plans to enlarge the car park.^[15][16][7]
2. To grow larger: The bruise enlarged overnight.^[15][16]
3. To make a photograph or print larger than the original negative.^[15][16][7]
4. enlarge on or upon: to speak or write about something at greater length or in more detail; to expatiate.^[15][7][8]
5. To broaden the mind, sympathies or outlook of: Travel had enlarged her view of the world.^[16][7]
6. (archaic) To set free; to release from confinement.^[7][8][10]

Word family

• enlarger
• enlargeable
• enlargedness
• enlargingly
• enlargement
• reenlarge

Related words

• large
• largess

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Smyth, W. H. (1867), The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie and Son
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster