I. Act., to spread out, dilate; to enlarge, amplify, extend (class.; esp. freq. in Cic.).
A. Lit.: “(stomachi) partes eae, quae sunt infra, dilatantur, quae autem supra, contrahuntur,” Cic. N. D. 2, 54, 135: “manum (opp. comprimere digitos),” id. Or. 32, 113: “globum farinae,” Varr. L. L. 5, § 107 Müll.: “fundum,” Cic. Fin. 3, 15, 48: “castra,” Liv. 27, 46 (opp. coartatio plurium): “aciem,” id. 31, 21: “cicatricem,” Plin. 17, 27, 42, § 251: “patulos rictus,” Ov. M. 6, 378: “se mare,” Plin. 5, 32, 40, § 141 et saep.—
B. Trop.: “ut aut ex verbis dilatetur, aut in verbum contrahatur oratio,” Cic. Part. 7, 23; so, “orationem,” id. Fl. 5, 12; cf. “argumentum, id. Parad. prooem. § 2: haec, quae dilatantur a nobis, Zeno sic premebat,” id. N. D. 2, 7 fin.; cf. id. ib. 3, 9, 22; Quint. 8, 4, 14: “eloquentia dilatata (opp. contracta et astricta),” Cic. Brut. 90, 309: “litteras,” to pronounce broadly, id. ib. 74, 259: nomen in continentibus terris, id. Fragm. ap. Non. 274, 7: “quantis in angustiis vestra se gloria dilatari velit,” Cic. Rep. 6, 20; cf. “se (c. c. attollere),” Quint. 2, 3, 8: “haec lex, dilatata in ordinem cunctum, coangustari etiam potest,” Cic. Leg. 3, 14 fin. —
II. Neutr., to extend one's self ( = expandor): “spatia montis in cubiculo dilatantia,” Plin. 35, 1, 1, § 3 Sill. N. cr.
