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To lay open by extending; to open wide; to spread out; to diffuse; as, a flower expands its leaves. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight. Milton.

Anything which causes expansion esp. (Mech.) a tool for stretching open or expanding a tube, etc.

That expands, or may be expanded; extending; spreading; enlarging. Expanding bit, Expanding drill (Mech.), a bit or drill made adjustable for holes of various sizes; one which can be expanded in diameter while boring. -- Expanding pulley (Mach.), a pulley so made, as in sections, that its diameter can be increased or…

hort minute of a decision on a petition, or reply of the pope to a letter, and afterwards expand the minute into official form.

ine or curve, a curve exhibiting the variations of pressure and volume of a fluid when it expands without either receiving or giving out heat. Rankine.

Am eagle without beak or feet, with expanded wings. Burke.

addition or discussion; to treat copiously by adding particulars, illustrations, etc.; to expand; to make much of. Troilus and Cressida was written by a Lombard author, but much amplified by our English translator. Dryden.

The small hollow curvature given to the top or bottom of the shaft of a column where it expands to meet the edge of the fillet; -- called also the scape. Parker.

-- Atmospheric line (Steam Engin.), the equilibrium line of an indicator card. Steam is expanded "down to the atmosphere" when its pressure is equal to that of the atmosphere. (See Indicator card.) -- Atmospheric pressure, the pressure exerted by the atmosphere, not merely downwards, but in every direction. In amount…

roach or of exit. "The avenues leading to the city by land." Macaulay. On every side were expanding new avenues of inquiry. Milman.

To expand, or puff out, like a balloon.

Expanding at the mouth; as, a bell-mouthed gun. Byron.

A blossom; the flower of a plant; an expanded bud; flowers, collectively. The rich blooms of the tropics. Prescott.

h the workman gathers a quantity of "metal" (melted glass), and through which he blows to expand or shape it; -- called also blowing tube, and blowpipe.

w used in scientific nomenclature, but sometimes used as a general term for heat. Caloric expands all bodies. Henry.

Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base, as a flower cluster.

A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree (Eugenia, or Caryophullus, aromatica), a native of the Molucca Isles. Clove camphor. (Chem.) See Eugenin. -- Clove gillyflower, Clove pink (Bot.), any fragrant self-colored carnation.

own footstalk, and arising from different points of a common axis, the outermost blossoms expanding first, as in the hawthorn.

A kind of stiff cloth, used chiefly by women, for underskirts, to expand the gown worn over it; -- so called because originally made of hair.

Crossbar shot, a projectile which folds into a sphere for loading, but on leaving the gun expands to a cross with a quarter ball at the end of each arm; -- used in naval actions for cutting the enemy's rigging.