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Webster 1913 Edition

Multiply

Mul′ti-ply

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Multiplied
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Multiplying
.]
[F.
multiplier
, L.
multiplicare
, fr.
multiplex
manifold. See
Multitude
,
Complex
.]
1.
To increase in number; to make more numerous; to add quantity to.
Impunity will
multiply
motives to disobedience.
Ames.
2.
(Math.)
To add (any given number or quantity) to itself a certain number of times; to find the product of by multiplication;
thus 7
multiplied
by 8 produces the number 56; to
multiply
two numbers
. See the Note under
Multiplication
.
3.
To increase (the amount of gold or silver) by the arts of alchemy.
[Obs.]
Multiplying gear
(Mach.)
,
gear for increasing speed.
–
Multiplying lens
.
(Opt.)
See under
Lens
.

Mul′ti-ply

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To become greater in number; to become numerous.
When men began to
multiply
on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them.
Gen. vi. 1.
2.
To increase in extent and influence; to spread.
The word of God grew and
multiplied
.
Acts xii. 24.
3.
To increase amount of gold or silver by the arts of alchemy.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition

Multiply

MUL'TIPLY

,
Verb.
T.
[L. multiplico; multus, many, and plico, to fold or double.]
1.
To increase in number; to make more by natural generation or production, or by addition; as, to multiply men, horses or other animals; to multiply evils.
I will multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt. Ex.7.
Impunity will multiply motives to disobedience.
2.
In arithmetic, to increase any given number as many times as there are units in any other given number. Thus 7x8=56, that is, 7 multiplied by 8 produces the number 56.

MUL'TIPLY

,
Verb.
I.
To grow or increase in number.
Be fruitful and multiply. Gen.1.
When men began to multiply on the face of the earth. Gen.6.
1.
To increase in extent; to extend; to spread.
The word of God grew and multiplied. Acts 12.

Definition 2024

multiply

multiply

See also: multi-ply

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: mŭlʹtĭ-plī, IPA(key): /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/

Verb

multiply ‎(third-person singular simple present multiplies, present participle multiplying, simple past and past participle multiplied)

  1. (transitive) To increase the amount, degree or number of (something).
    • Ames
      Impunity will multiply motives to disobedience.
    • 1843, Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London
      It would indeed be easy to multiply modern authorities respecting locustal food; one more authority shall suffice, from which it will appear that the Arabs make a sort of locust bread.
  2. (transitive, arithmetic) To perform multiplication on (a number).
    when you multiply 3 by 7, you get 21;  he multiplied several numbers‎
  3. (intransitive) To grow in number.
  4. (intransitive) To breed or propagate.
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. […] Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmetic of biological terminology, multiplying.
  5. (intransitive, arithmetic) To perform multiplication.
    He had been multiplying, but it occurred to him he needed to resolve the exponents, first.‎
  6. (transitive, rare) To be a factor in a multiplication with (another factor).
    • 1983, Graham Flegg, Numbers, 2002 Dover edition, ISBN 0486421651, page 154 :
      This follows a similar process, counters having to be removed and replaced at each stage of the remaining part of the calculation except the final one, where 2 multiplies 3 to give 6.
    • 1993, Edward T. Dowling, Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Mathematical Methods for Business and Economics, ISBN 0070176744, page 14 :
      Of all the possible combinations of factors above, only . Carefully arranging the factors, therefore, to ensure that 2 multiplies 4 and 3 multiplies 5, we have
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations

Noun

multiply ‎(plural multiplies)

  1. (computer science) An act or instance of multiplying.

Etymology 2

multiple +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: mŭlʹtĭ-plē, IPA(key): /ˈmʌltɪpli/

Adverb

multiply ‎(comparative more multiply, superlative most multiply)

  1. In many or multiple ways.

Etymology

From Old French multiplier, from Latin multiplicō, from multi ‎(“many”) + plicō ‎(“I fold”).

The noun presumably derives from the verb.

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