Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of augmenting.
  • noun The condition of being augmented.
  • noun Something that augments.
  • noun Music The presentation of a theme in notes of usually double time value.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of increasing or making larger by addition, expansion, or dilatation; the act of adding to or enlarging; the state or condition of being made larger.
  • noun That by which anything is augmented; an addition: as, the augmentation amounted to $500 a year.
  • noun Specifically In music, where much repetition and imitation of themes is required, the modification of a theme or subject by systematically increasing the original time-value of all its notes. In heraldry, an additional charge to a coatarmor, granted as a mark of honor to an armiger.
  • noun In pathology, same as augment
  • noun A hypothesis relating to the development of number systems, according to which the primary number-concept was based on the idea of the self and of the four directions front, back, right, left, and sometimes, in addition to these, above and below.
  • noun In astronomy, the excess of the moon's apparent diameter, seen from a given point, over its diameter as it would be if seen from the center of the earth. The excess is due to the fact that the moon, except when on the horizon, is nearer to the observer than to the earth's center.
  • noun In botany, same as multiplication, 3.
  • noun In law, a share of the great tithes temporarily granted to the vicars by the appropriators, and made perpetual by a statute of Charles II.: also used in a similar sense in the Canadian law.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or process of augmenting, or making larger, by addition, expansion, or dilation; increase.
  • noun The state of being augmented; enlargement.
  • noun The thing added by way of enlargement.
  • noun (Her.) A additional charge to a coat of arms, given as a mark of honor.
  • noun (Med.) The stage of a disease in which the symptoms go on increasing.
  • noun (Mus.) In counterpoint and fugue, a repetition of the subject in tones of twice the original length.
  • noun (Eng. Hist.) a court erected by Stat. 27 Hen. VIII., to augment the revenues of the crown by the suppression of monasteries. It was long ago dissolved.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act or process of augmenting.
  • noun heraldry A particular mark of honour, granted by the sovereign in consideration of some noble action, or by favour; and either quartered with the family arms, or on an escutcheon or canton.
  • noun medicine A surgical procedure to enlarge a body part, as breast augmentation.
  • noun medicine The stage of a disease during which symptoms increase or continue.
  • noun music a compositional technique where the composer lengthens the melody by multiplying the length of each note by the same number

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the statement of a theme in notes of greater duration (usually twice the length of the original)
  • noun the act of augmenting
  • noun the amount by which something increases

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French augmentacion, from Latin augmentatio, verbal noun from augmento ("to increase")

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