Definitions

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

  • noun A wide and open extent, as of surface, land, or sky.
  • noun Expansion.
  • noun The distance or amount of expansion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To expand; stretch out.
  • Expanded; spread out.
  • Separate; single: said especially of years in old planetary tables.
  • noun Spatial or superficial extension; an uninterrupted stretch or area, especially one of considerable extent.
  • noun Specifically In zoology, the extent or stretch of wing; the distance from tip to tip when the wings, as of an insect or a bird, are fully expanded. Also called alar expanse or extent.
  • noun Enlargement; extension; expansion.
  • noun Synonyms See extent.

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

  • noun That which is expanded or spread out; a wide extent of space or body; especially, the arch of the sky.
  • transitive verb obsolete To expand.

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

  • noun A wide stretch, usually of sea, sky, or land.

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

  • noun the extent of a 2-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundary
  • noun a wide scope
  • noun a wide and open space or area as of surface or land or sky

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin expānsum, from neuter past participle of expandere, to spread out; see expand.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin expandō.

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