Also 6–8 inlargement. [f. ENLARGE v. + -MENT.] The action of enlarging; the state of being enlarged.
1. Increase in extent, capacity, magnitude or amount; an instance of such increase.
1564. Haward, Eutropius, VI. 53. He gave the Daphnenses a percell of lande for the enlargemente of theyr groves or copyes.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. xi. The enlargment or abridgement of functions ministeriall.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 4. The repetition of graffing, for the inlargement and melioration of fruit.
1736. Butler, Anal., i. 12. The vast Enlargement of their locomotive Powers.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 46. An enlargement of the chapel … absorbed all extra funds and left none for the enlargement of the minister’s income.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 330. Malarial enlargements of the spleen.
b. concr. Something added so as to enlarge.
a. 1691. Boyle, Wks., I. 587 (R.). Divers notes … to be inserted here and there, as inlargements in the next edition.
† 2. Diffusion, propagation. Obs. Cf. ENLARGE 3 a.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 247. We haue not laboured the inlargement of Gods truth.
1644. Milton, Educ. (1738), 135. A great furtherance to the enlargement of a truth.
3. The widening or expanding of the mind, of a person’s thoughts, sympathies or affections; the quality of being ‘enlarged’ in mind, thought, etc.
1806. A. Knox, Rem. (1844), I. 96. His own enlargement of mind may raise him above … Judaism.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Swedenborg, Wks. (Bohn), I. 331. His judgments are those of a Swedish polemic, and his vast enlargements purchased by adamantine limitations.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), III. iii. 182. It prepared them for a certain enlargement of mind, which is the natural consequence of seeing affairs under various aspects.
4. Copious discourse or expatiation on a subject; also, verbal amplification. arch.
1659. O. Walker, Instruct. Oratory, 95. Doubled sentences and enlargements by Synonymal Words … are but necessary.
1669. Bunyan, Holy Citie, 5. You must not from me look for much inlargement.
1683. Burnet, trans. More’s Utopia (1684), 97. The old Men take occasion to entertain those about them, with some useful and pleasant Enlargements.
1741. Warburton, Div. Legat., II. 162. The Subject little needs Enlargement.
1747. Gould, Eng. Ants, Ded. I shall therefore forbear those usual Enlargements.
1762. Mallet, To Dk. Marlb., a ij b, in Poems (R.). I restrain my pen from all enlargement.
5. Release from confinement or bondage.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 2 § 9. After his enlargement and commyng out of pryson.
1611. Bible, Esther iv. 14. Then shall there enlargement and deliuerance arise to the Jewes from another place.
1709. Stanhope, Paraphr., IV. 250. That Enlargement from the Slavery of Lusts and vicious Habits.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. ii. 157/1. The enclosed animal … by repeated efforts, at last procures its enlargement.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. II. ii. § 1. 153. The enlargement of the deer.
1883. Trevelyan, in Daily News, 24 Feb., 2/7. The enlargement from prison of Mr. Parnell.
† b. Freedom of action; concr. a right of free action, a privilege. Obs.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., II. iii. 125. Yet you are curb’d from that enlargement, by The consequence o’ th’ Crown.
1646. J. Whitaker, Uzziah, 3. The enlargements bestowed upon this person.
1648. Milton, Observ. Art. Peace (1851), 556. Such freedoms and enlargements, as none of their Ancestors could ever merit.
c. In religious use: Conscious ‘liberty,’ absence of constraint, in prayer, etc. arch.
1648. Th. Hill, The Strength of the Saints, 19. Ministers find they have preached such a Sermon in such a place with very much enlargement.
a. 1733. D. Wilcox, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xxvii. 4. What entertainments I have had! what enlargements in prayer, and answers thereto!
1739. J. Trapp, Righteous Overmuch, 62. They talk much of … their Enlargements in Devotion.
1766. Wesley, Jrnl., 31 July. I preached with great enlargement of heart.
1870. R. Anderson, Missions Amer. Board, II. xviii. 147. Church members had wonderful enlargement and assistance in prayer.
