arch. Also 6 -iacion, -yacion. [a. Fr. ampliation, ad. L. ampliātiōn-em, n. of action f. ampliā-re: see AMPLIATE v.]
1. Enlarging, extending; amplification.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., VIII. xi. Wyth amplyacion more connyng to get, By the laboure of inventyfe busynes.
1630. Lord, Banians, 86. Meditating unjust ampliations of government.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. iv. § 19 (1682), 33. The due spreading and ampliation of a Tree or other Plant.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 157. Odious Matters admit not of an Ampliation, but ought to be … interpreted in the mildest sense.
a. 1857. Sir W. Hamilton, Logic (1866), II. App. 273. This quantity [Extension] alone admits of ampliation or restriction.
2. That which is added in the process of enlarging; an enlargement or extension.
1590. Swinburn, Testaments, 191 b. Which conclusion is accompanied with no smal traine of ampliations & limitations.
1624. Bedell, Lett., iii. 71. A long compasse of a sentence … with I know not how many ampliations and alternatiues.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. iv. (1682), 29. The Skin of the Leaf, is only the ampliation of that of the Branch.
3. Law. Deferring of judgment till a case has been more fully examined.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Ampliation, a deferring or prolonging of Judgment or Trial, till the Cause be better certified.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal (1673), 244. Which delay of the cause was called ampliation.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xxvii. [The Judges of the Areopagus] signifying … by A. Ampliation or a Demur, when the Case was not sufficiently examined.
1809. Tomlins, Law Dict., Ampliation … in law a referring of judgment, till the cause is further examined.
