Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive & intransitive verb To make or become great or greater.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To become great or large; increase; dilate.
- To become great with child; become pregnant.
- To make great; magnify; enlarge; increase.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb rare To make great; to aggrandize; to cause to increase in size; to expand.
- intransitive verb rare To become large; to dilate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To become
great orlarge ;increase ;dilate . - verb intransitive, obsolete To become great with child; become
pregnant . - verb transitive To make great;
magnify ;enlarge ; increase.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And while the whole face was the incarnation of fierceness and strength, the primal melancholy from which he suffered seemed to greaten the lines of mouth and eye and brow, seemed to give a largeness and completeness which otherwise the face would have lacked.
Chapter 10 2010
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I had decided to manipulate and pretend I was really hurt, that would greaten their concern for me and lessen their anxiety about the dirt bike and the truck. . .
Jay's Journal Dr. Beatrice Sparks 2010
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So he lifted up his hands to heaven and said, “O Allah, greaten my yard and magnify it.”
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(INAUDIBLE) attack left one guard brutally greaten, and the perps got away with a whopping $18 million.
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I have done thee indeed this service, as to promote thee to honour, and to greaten thy liberty; but, alas! alas! poor Mansoul, thou wantest now one to defend thee; for assure thyself that when Shaddai shall hear what is done, he will come; for sorry will he be that thou hast broken his bonds, and cast his cords away from thee.
The Holy War 2001
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But I shall not now insist on the several advantages that any temptation hath to heighten and greaten itself, to make itself prevalent and effectual with the contribution that it receives to this purpose from various circumstances, opportunities, specious pleas and pretences, necessities for the doing that which cannot be done without answering the temptation, and the like; because I must speak unto some of them afterward.
Of Temptation 1616-1683 1967
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For they are concerned for it, not to hide it, but to make it spangle; not to extinguish it, but to greaten it, and to show the excellency of it in all its features and in all its comely proportion.
The Riches of Bunyan Jeremiah Rev. Chaplin
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We love to think that Alfred's wars were not to greaten himself, but to set his country free.
Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature of Pre-Conquest Days Emily Hickey
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Eternal God, I thank thee for all the sterling elements that greaten the individual life.
Leaves of Life For Daily Inspiration Margaret Bird Steinmetz
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Besides, the Holy Ghost hath a way to greaten heavenly things to the understanding of the coming sinner; yea, and at the same time to greaten, too, the sin and unworthiness of that sinner.
The Riches of Bunyan Jeremiah Rev. Chaplin
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