Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EX-PAN'SION, n. [L. expansio.]

1. The act of expanding or spreading out.
2. The state of being expanded; the enlargement of surface or bulk; dilatation. We apply expansion to surface, as the expansion of a sheet or of a lake, and to bulk, as the expansion of fluids or metals by heat; but not to a line or length without breadth.
3. Extent; space to which any thing is enlarged; also, pure space or distance between remote bodies.
4. Enlargement; as, the expansion of the heart or affections.
5. In commerce, an increase of issues of bank notes.