Obs. Also 4 expans, 5 expance. [ad. L. expans-us, pa. pple. of expandĕre to EXPAND.] = EXPANDED.

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  1.  Bot. (See quot.)

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1819.  Pantalogia, Expanse, in botany, expanded, spread out: as the calyx in helianthus.

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1823.  in Crabb, Techn. Dict.

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  2.  Expanse years: ‘When a table contains quantities denoting the amount of a planet’s motion during only a few years, viz. from 1 to 20 years, such changes are entered separately under the headings 1, 2, 3, etc. years, which are designated the expanse (or separate) years’ (Skeat in Chaucer’s Astrolabe (1872), Gloss.). Opposed to COLLECT.

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c. 1386.  Chaucer, Frankl. T., 547. Neither his collect, nor his Expans yeeres. Ibid. (c. 1391), Astrol., II. § 45.

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c. 1430.  Lydg., Thebes, 380. The yeeres collecte and expance also.

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