greatenv.
/ˈɡreɪtn/, U.S. /ˈɡreɪt(ə)n/ Now literary.† 1. intransitive. To become pregnant, swell with pregnancy. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > conception > conceive [verb (intransitive)]
trima1325
conceivec1375
greatenc1390
to fall with child (also bairn)a1464
impregnate1711
start1846
catch1858
fall1891
click1936
to be caught out1957
to fall for ——1957
big1982
c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 88 Sone aftur þat gretnede þat greiþli Mayde.
2.
a. transitive. To make (more) eminent, prominent, distinguished, or important; to increase the rank or power of; reflexive to aggrandize oneself. Also: to praise, render honour to (God). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [verb (transitive)] > attach importance to > make more important
arearc885
upheavea1300
upraisea1300
uphigh13..
enhancec1325
liftc1330
uplift1338
uphebbe1340
uptakec1340
magnifya1382
upreara1382
uphancec1390
preponder?1504
upbring1513
exaggerate1564
greaten1589
weighc1595
to make much matter ofa1649
aggravate1698
aggrandize1709
beef1941
1589 J. Lea tr. D. F. R. de M. Answer Vntruthes 38 Least anie man should blame me for imploieng my pen in answering matters so base..I disdaine not to answer this..for that the minde wherewith I do it doth greaten the same.
1596 T. Lodge Prosopopeia sig. D3v This is the virgin of virgins, the humble of humblest, in whome humilitie greatned virginitie, & virginitie adorned humilitie.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. v. i. §4. 328 The Athenians..hoped to haue greatned themselues in Sicil, by the diuision and ciuill warre.
1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine ii. vi. 151 Cana..greatened with Christs first miracle.
1662 W. Petty Treat. Taxes 28 So much doth the means of facilitating carriage greaten a city.
a1677 T. Manton 190 Serm. on 119th Psalm (1681) (cxix. 32) xxxiv. 218 Faith doth greaten God.
1706 J. Hughes in Compl. Hist. Eng. I. 96/2 Godwin sought to greaten himself by the Conquest of Wales.
1760 Serm. preach'd before Former Societies for Reformation of Manners 8 Any thing that greatens God in the sense of Men, is honour done to him.
1794 J. Adams Def. Constit. Govt. U.S.A. (new ed.) III. 461 It is certainly an essential rule in a free government, to suffer no man to greaten himself above the law.
1891 Amer. Missionary June 233 Our work, however insignificant it may appear, seen at short range, has a bearing on the evangelization of China, which greatens it beyond measure.
1916 A. H. Stanton in E. F. Russell Father Stanton's Last Serm. in S. Alban's, Holborn (ed. 4) 110 So it is that Mary..could in the flesh sing, ‘My soul doth greaten God’, for Magnify is the Latin word for greaten.
b. transitive. To raise to a higher degree of value or excellence; to elevate or ennoble (the mind). Also †intransitive with object understood.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > majesty, glory, or grandeur > exaltation or glorification > exalt or glorify [verb (transitive)] > impart nobility to
noblec1380
transfigurec1380
nobley?a1439
noblish1483
ennoble1502
gentle1532
nobilitate1542
ennoblize1598
ennoblishc1600
sublimate1601
greaten1627
exalt1711
annoblize1731
1627 J. Reading Dauids Soliloquie 19 The soule of man..hath..need of such meanes, as can greaten and giue more vigour to good passions.
1647 J. Sprigge Anglia Rediviva To Rdr. sig. *B4v Whose Mindes are so greatned as that you will look upon no small things.
1659 J. Arrowsmith Armilla Catechetica 275 An humble spirit greatned by continual converse with the great God.
1698 W. Bates Acct. Life P. Henry (1699) ix. 131 The Grace of Christ in the Spirit..greatens and guides the Spirit.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Second 10 Virtue, or purpos'd Virtue still be Thine..This greatens, fills, immortalizes All.
1748 J. Hervey Contempl. Night in Medit. & Contempl. (ed. 2) II. 24 An uniform Air of ineffable Majesty greatens, exalts, ennobles the Whole.
1798 A. O'Connor State of Ireland 128 Hereditary Aristocracy and Representative Democracy cannot exist together..unless you destroy that great revolution which has taken place in property and in mind, that has erected and greatened the latter.
a1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 388 For valour, truth, and comely bloom, For all that greatens and adorns.
1874 J. Hawthorne Idolatry xvii. 181 But Balder's culture had not greatened him. Greatness is not of the brain.
1911 Amer. Educ. Rev. Oct. 28/1 Fellowship with so great a mind cannot fail to greaten us.
a1977 H. McHugh Hinge & Sign (1994) 113 I agree that something greatens us, but intelligence doesn't enter into it.
3.
a. transitive. To make great or greater in size, extent, or amount; to increase, augment, enlarge, intensify, magnify.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [verb (transitive)]
echeOE
ekec1200
multiplya1275
morea1300
increase13..
vaunce1303
enlargec1380
augmenta1400
accrease1402
alargea1425
amply?a1425
great?1440
hainc1440
creasec1475
grow1481
amplea1500
to get upa1500
improve1509
ampliatea1513
auge1542
over1546
amplify1549
raise1583
grand1602
swell1602
magnoperate1610
greaten1613
accresce1626
aggrandize1638
majoratea1651
adauge1657
protend1659
reinforce1660
examplify1677
pluralize1750
to drive up1817
to whoop up1856
to jack up1884
upbuild1890
steepen1909
up1934
1613 T. Lodge tr. Seneca Epist. in tr. Seneca Wks. (1614) 442 The more the minde receiueth, the more it is enlarged and greatned.
1626 R. Harris Hezekiah's Recov. 5 This must greaten our thankes.
1630 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. §lix It is the nature of that element to greaten appearing quantities.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 201 It will easily so appeare, without any flow of words to greaten it.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 14 June (1974) VIII. 268 Everything concurred to greaten the fire.
1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 18 To promote thee to honour, and to greaten thy liberty. View more context for this quotation
1724 R. Welton Substance Christian Faith 89 As men proceed in wickedness, as they greaten and aggravate their sins.
1850 E. B. Browning Poems (new ed.) I. 237 The whole strain being multiplied And greatened.
1889 J. R. Lowell in Atlantic Monthly Aug. 148 Greatened by the watery lens.
1904 J. London Sea-wolf x. 99 The primal melancholy from which he suffered seemed to greaten the lines of mouth and eye and brow.
1956 E. Bowen in Vogue July 55/1 Countless creative identities, back through time, have greatened our concept of humanity.
2008 K. B. Duble Quest 143 The man..has risked life and limb to greaten the glories of his homeland.
b. intransitive. Of material and immaterial things: to become great or greater; to increase in size, extent, amount, or intensity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > expansion or enlargement > expand or enlarge [verb (intransitive)]
greateOE
grow1382
enlarge1481
to gain more feathers1600
spread1611
burnish1624
sizea1631
dilate1636
greaten1638
expatiate1650
widen1650
biggen1652
expand1791
magnify1814
1638 R. Younge Drunkard's Char. 424 As a River is small and foredable at the head, but greatens as it runnes on, by accession of new waters.
1678 T. Vincent Death of Ministers Improved 26 If it be difficult to repent when your sins are lesser, will not the difficulty greaten when your sins are greatned and grown more heinous?
a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) X. 336 Being committed against an infinite majesty, it [sc. sin] greatens, and rises to the height of an infinite demerit.
1746 J. Hervey Medit. among Tombs 83 Influenced by these Considerations, thy Views will greaten.
1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 29 That curse is ever greatening.
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh i. 39 My blue eyes greatening in the looking-glass.
1874 G. Dawson Our Shaks. Club 115 As we grow he [sc. Shakespeare] grows, and as we greaten he greatens.
1914 H. Newbolt Aladore (1915) xxxiv. 216 The sun was greatening below in a mist of rose.
1976 R. Wilbur in Mind-Reader 4 A stillness greatens, in which The whole house seems to be thinking.
1995 H. Hollick Pendragon's Banner i. lx. 319 The friendships of childhood dwindle with age, the distance between the two boys who had become men greatening when Hueil joined with Arthur.
Derivatives
ˈgreatened adj.
ΚΠ
1647 J. Hall Poems ii. 91 And there my greatned selfe disperse As wide as thought?
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh v. 196 I called the artist but a greatened man.
1908 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 3rd vii. ix. 346 I had been shifted from this jail of flesh, To wander as a greatened ghost elsewhere.
2002 Gold Coast Bull. (Austral.) (Nexis) 1 Nov. 17 We must accept the greatened increase of terrorist attacks around the world.
ˈgreatening n.
ΚΠ
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. iv. ii. §9. 187 Rather to the greatning of others than himselfe.
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. III iii. 24 The greatening and advancing of themselves.
1734 S. Wright Self-Possession i. 16 A soul that is capable..of applying all to the greatning and betterment of its own state and condition.
1796 Philanthropist 11 Jan. 6 The free state of Florence foolishly ruined itself by the greatning of Cosmus.
1846 J. Blackburn in B. H. Cooper Select Wks. Reverend & Learned D. Clarkson p. xvii The securing and greatening of a faction which, under the profession of Christianity, might be false to all its realities.
1910 V. de Cleyre in P. Glassgold Anarchy! (2001) 189 Everywhere the greatening of God, and the lessening of Man.
2000 D. Richman Passionate Action v. 157 This greatening of the tragic figure was achieved through a concomitant lessening of the spontaneous, uncontrolled humanity of the performer representing him.
ˈgreatening adj.
ΚΠ
1649 T. Brooks Gods Delight 34 Faith enables the soul, and carries it bravely on against all discouragements, by conversing with soul-greatning objects.]
1678 N. Tate Brutus of Alba iv. 33 My greatning Soul aspires to range like thee, In unknown Worlds.
1861 All Year Round 5 14 To glut the greatening bonfire.
1884 Christian World 11 Sept. 688/2 As you go on your ever greatening way.
2000 N. Popov & H. McHugh in tr. P. Celan Glottal Stop Pref. p. xviii A greatening force of mind informs the sensual field.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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