- amplify
- mid-15c., "to enlarge or expand," from M.Fr. amplifier, from L. amplificare "to enlarge," from amplificus "splendid," from amplus "large" + the root of facere "make, do" (see factitious). Meaning "augment in volume or amount" is from 1570s. Restriction of use to sound seems to have emerged in the electronic age, c.1915, in reference to radio technology.