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Webster 1913 Edition


Expatiate

Ex-pa′ti-ate

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Expatiated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Expariating
.]
[L.
expatiatus
,
exspatiatus
, p. p. of
expatiari
,
exspatiari
, to expatiate;
ex
out +
spatiari
to walk about spread out, fr.
spatium
space. See
Space
.]
1.
To range at large, or without restraint.
Bids his free soul
expatiate
in the skies.
Pope.
2.
To enlarge in discourse or writing; to be copious in argument or discussion; to descant.
He
expatiated
on the inconveniences of trade.
Addison.

Ex-pa′ti-ate

,
Verb.
T.
To expand; to spread; to extend; to diffuse; to broaden.
Afford art an ample field in which to
expatiate
itself.
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition


Expatiate

EXPA'TIATE

,
Verb.
I.
[L. expatior; ex and spatior, to wander, to enlarge in discourse, spatium, space, probably allied to pateo, to open.
1.
To open at large; to rove without prescribed limits; to wander in space without restraint.
He bids his soul expatiate in the skies.
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man.
2.
To enlarge in discourse or writing; to be copious in argument or discussion. On important topics the orator thinks himself at liberty to expatiate.

Definition 2024


expatiate

expatiate

English

Verb

expatiate (third-person singular simple present expatiates, present participle expatiating, simple past and past participle expatiated)

  1. (now rare) To range at large, or without restraint.
    • Alexander Pope
      Bids his free soul expatiate in the skies.
  2. To write or speak at length; to be copious in argument or discussion, to descant.
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 35
      Now, as the business of standing mast-heads, ashore or afloat, is a very ancient and interesting one, let us in some measure expatiate here.
    • Addison
      He expatiated on the inconveniences of trade.
    • 2007, Clive James, Cultural Amnesia (Picador 2007, p. 847)
      “It can't fly,” he expatiated. “It can move forward only by hopping.”
  3. (obsolete) To expand; to spread; to extend; to diffuse; to broaden.

Translations