Also 6 -cion. [ad. L. amplificātiōn-em, n. of action f. amplificāre: see AMPLIFY and -TION.] The action of amplifying, extending or enlarging.
1. Of things material: Enlargement. Also concr. that which is added, or causes enlargement.
1546. Langley, Pol. Verg. De Invent., VI. iii. 116 b. The preseruacion and amplificacion of fruictes, ordeyned for ye sustenaunce of man.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 560. This amplification or inlargement hapneth because al the spirits doe assemble themselues vnto the eye which is open.
1705. Col. Records Penn., II. 218. Allowing one penny per line for Emplyfications.
1763. Reid, Inq. Hum. Mind (1769), 325 (T.). We have been accustomed to conceive this amplification of the visible figure of a known object, only as the effect or sign of its being brought nearer.
1830. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), I. 247. The reprinting and amplification of the ‘Catechism on the Corn Laws.’
2. Of things immaterial: Augmentation in extent, importance, significance, etc. Also concr. an enlarged or extended representation.
1569. in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. liii. 567. That his studies and labours … might be … to the glory of God, and the amplification of the whole University.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., II. xviii. 442. A more full Amplification of his enormous Pride is set down in the above-named Idea.
1687. Assur. Abby Lands, 133. The Pope sent an Amplification of His Powers.
1874. Sayce, Comp. Philol., vii. 282. To regard the dual as an amplification of the plural forms.
3. esp. Of words and phrases: Extension of meaning. Amplification of the Predicate, in Grammar, = extension or enlargement of the predicate.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia (1869), 105. Those rules of restrictions, amplifications and suppositions, verye wittelye inuented in the small Logicalles.
1578. Timme, Calvin on Gen., 195. This saying [in this generation] … is added for Amplification.
1656. Hardy, Serm., 1 John (1865), xxx. 185/2. An amplification of the proposition.
1870. Spurgeon, Treas. David, xvi. 1. I. 217. The intercession recorded in John xvii is but an amplification of this cry.
4. Rhet. The extension of simple statement by all such devices as tend to increase its rhetorical effect, or to add importance to the things stated; making the most of a thought or circumstance.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 64. No one [figure] so muche helpeth forwarde an Oracion, and beautifieth the same with suche delitefull ornamentes as dooeth amplificacion.
1651. Hobbes, Rhet. (1840), 438. An orator in praising, must also use the forms of amplification.
1727. Pope, Art of Sinking, 89. Amplification … is the spinning-wheel of the bathos, which draws out and spreads it into the finest thread.
1829. I. Taylor, Enthus., viii. 191. Modern writers … have expatiated with disproportionate amplification upon the corruptions.
5. The particulars by which a statement is amplified or an account exaggerated; the amplified or exaggerated statement itself.
1567. Jewel, Def. Apol., 104 (R.). By sutche amplifications and outrage in speache, it would appeare, Christe were Peters vicare.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. 2. No amplification at all, but a positiue and measured truth.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Pope, Wks. 1787, IV. 65. The essay [on Man] abounded in splendid amplifications.
1841. T. Trollope, West. France, II. xxxiv. 166. To exercise the novices … in writing amplifications on the lives of the saints.
1869. Phillips, Vesuv., i. 6. The story is given with amplifications by Plutarch.
