- 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 1580. Restriction of use to sound seems to have emerged in the electronic age, c.1915, in ref. to radio technology.