expansion

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or process of expanding: the new nation's expansion westward.
2. n. The state of being expanded.
3. n. An expanded part: an expansion of a river.
4. n. A product of expanding: a book that is an expansion of the author's Ph.D. thesis.
5. n. The extent or amount by which something has expanded.
6. n. Mathematics A quantity written in an extended form, such as in a sum or product of terms.
7. n. Mathematics The process of obtaining this form.
8. n. An expanse.
9. n. A period of increased economic or business activity.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of expanding. The act of spreading out.
2. n. The act of extending or distending, or of increasing in extent, size, bulk, amount, etc.
3. n. The state of being expanded; enlargement; distention; dilatation; increase of extent, size, bulk, amount, etc. In the case of the expansion of solids by heat, account is taken of the increase in length or linear expansion, in surface (superficial expansion), and in volume (cubical expansion). The increment in length of the unit for a change of 1° in temperature, or the rate of increase of the unit with the temperature, is called the coefficient of linear expansion; and the coefficients of superficial and cubical expansion, which are respectively two and three times the linear coefficient, are similarly defined. In the case of liquids and gases the expansion in volume is alone considered. The real or absolute expansion of a liquid is the actual increase in volume, while the apparent expansion is that which is observed when a liquid contained in a vessel is heated, and which is less than the real expansion, because of the simultaneous expansion of the vessel itself. It is found that the coefficient of expansion is nearly the same for different gases, and sensibly so for the so-called permanent gases, as hydrogen, oxygen, etc. This coefficient is equal to .003667 for 1° C., or about —that is, at 273° C. the volume of a gas expanding under constant pressure is double its volume at 0°; and at—273° C. the volume would be theoretically zero. This last temperature is called the absolute zero.
4. n. Specifically The increase in bulk of steam in the cylinder of an engine when its communication with the boiler is cut off, in which case its pressure on the piston retreating before it is in inverse ratio to the space it fills.
5. n. A part which constitutes an increase or in which the expanding occurs; specifically, in entomology, a flat projection of a margin, generally lateral: as, a frontal expansion covering the base of the antennæ.
6. n. Extension or spread of space; extent in general; hence, wide extent; immensity.
7. n. In mathematics, the development at length of an expression indicated in a contracted form, especially by means of the distributive principle.
8. n. In ship-building, a drawing in which a curved or warped surface, as a ship's outside plating or a longitudinal, is laid out or expanded on a plane surface by conventional methods to show approximately the true relations and dimensions of the parts.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act or process of expanding.
2. n. The fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change.
3. n. A new addition.
4. n. A product to be used with a previous product.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of expanding or spreading out; the condition of being expanded; dilation; enlargement.
2. n. That which is expanded; expanse; extend surface.
3. n. Space through which anything is expanded; also, pure space.
4. n. (Economics & Commmerce) an increase in the production of goods and services over time, and in the volume of business transactions, generally associated with an increase in employment and an increase in the money supply. Opposite of contraction.
5. n. (Math.) The developed result of an indicated operation.
6. n. (Steam Engine) The operation of steam in a cylinder after its communication with the boiler has been cut off, by which it continues to exert pressure upon the moving piston.
7. n. (Nav. Arch.) The enlargement of the ship mathematically from a model or drawing to the full or building size, in the process of construction.
8. n. an enlarged or extended version of something, such as a writing or discourse.
9. n. Colloq. or jargon an expansion joint. See below.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a discussion that provides additional information
2. n. the act of increasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope
3. n. a function expressed as a sum or product of terms
4. n. adding information or detail