[ad. L. exaggerātiōn-em, n. of action f. exaggerā-re: see EXAGGERATE.]
† 1. The action of heaping or piling up; e.g., of silt by a river or the sea; also concr. that which is so piled up. Obs.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. ix. 221. Lakes grow by the exaggeration of Sand by the Sea. Ibid., II. xii. 241. The fruitfullest part of Egypt … is an Exaggeration, or Ground gained by the Inundation of Nilus.
† 2. The action of emphasizing or dwelling on the greatness of (a good or bad quality or action).
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1599), 93. And in this exaggeration of vices, so also might there bee the like of Vertues, as if one should exhort a man to Pietie, after hee had set foorth all the commodities thereof.
1611. Bp. Andrewes, Serm., II. 277. Or Himself it is said, and by way of exaggeration, He humbled Himself to death, the death of the Cross.
c. 1647. Boyle, Agst. Swearing, Wks. (1772), VI. 11. They swear not but when they are angry; and then (for all our clamours and exaggerations) they mean no harm at all.
1721. Swift, Propos. Use of Irish Manuf., Wks. (1760), X. 8 (J.). Exaggeration of the prodigious condescensions in the prince to pass those good laws, would have an odd sound at Westminster.
3. The action of exaggerating or magnifying unduly in words or representation. Also, an instance of this; an exaggerated statement.
1565. Jewel, Repl. Harding, 88. Which [small] companies he [Chrysostome] … by an exaggeration … calleth Nobody.
1685. Gracian’s Courtiers Orac., 35. Exaggeration is a kind of lying: by Exaggeration one gets himself the reputation of a man of bad discerning, and which is worse, of little judgment.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xvii. 442. Such exaggerations will be reduced to their just value.
1848. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xxiv. (1879), 489. If we were to accept the account of Josephus as not an utterly baseless exaggeration.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 176, note. The exaggeration of the vertical height in the diagrams.
b. transf. in Painting and Sculpture: A heightened representation of a subject either in design or by excessive coloring.
1734. Builder’s Dict., s.v.
1738. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., This exaggeration must be conducted in such manner, as not to put the objects out of their natural characters.
1828. in Webster; and in mod. Dicts.
c. concr. An exaggerated copy.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Spir. Laws, Wks. (Bohn), I. 63. Hideous dreams are exaggerations of the sins of the day.
1872. Baker, Nile Tribut., viii. 131. The eye of this animal is the most beautiful exaggeration of that of the gazelle.
4. Aggravation of a condition, etc.; also concr.
1661. Cowley, O. Cromwell (1669), 70. The diligence of wicked persons … is only an Emphasis and Exaggeration of their wickedness.
