Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪnˈlɑːd͡ʒ/[1]
  • US: /ɪnˈlɑɹd͡ʒ/[1]

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

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