embiggen

Meaning

Verb

Origin

  • From em- + biggen or , possibly analogous to belittle. The morphology parallels that of enlarge (en- + large) or embolden (en- + bold + -en).
  • The verb's first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. by C. A. Ward (see quotation below).
  • The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally ungainly form by television writer David X. Cohen for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.

Modern English dictionary

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