▪ I. augment, n.
(ˈɔːgmənt)
Also 6 agment.
[a. F. augment (14th c.), ad. L. augmentum increase, f. augēre to increase: see -ment.]
† 1. Increase, extension, augmentation. Obs.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, In augment of thy wo. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. Prol. i. x, In the is rute and agment of curage. 1599 Thynne Animadv. 71 To seeke the augmente and correctione of Chawcers Woorkes. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 132 That though indeed there be an augment in some petrifications, yet that it is not so in all. 1696 Phillips, Augment..an encreasing. |
2. Gram. The prefixed vowel (in Sanskrit ă, in Greek ε) which characterizes the past tenses of the verb in the older Aryan languages. (Sometimes applied to any prefix supposed to be of analogous use, e.g. the ge- of past participles in German.)
(In Greek, when the ε remains separate, it is called the syllabic augment; when it forms, with a following vowel, a long vowel or diphthong, the temporal augment.) Hence augmentless a., wanting the verbal augment.
| a 1771 Gray in Corr. (1843) 226 The y which we often see prefixed to participles passive, ycleped, yhewe, etc...is the old Anglo-Saxon augment. 1861 Jelf Grk. Gram. I. §171 The augment is employed in the indicative mood only of all the historic tenses. 1879 Whitney Skr. Gram. §585 The augment is a short a, prefixed to a tense stem..The augment is a sign of past time. Ibid. §587 The accentuation of the augmentless forms. |
▪ II. augment, v.
(ɔːgˈmɛnt)
Forms: 4 aument, 6 agg-, auge-, 5– augment.
[a. F. augmente-r (14th c.), earlier aumenter, cogn. with It. aumentare, Sp. aumentar:—L. augmentā-re to increase, f. augment-um: see prec.]
1. trans. To make greater in size, number, amount, degree, etc.; to increase, enlarge, extend.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 116 Hou our Navye may be mayntenyd, and augmentyd. 1561 T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. iv. xiv. (1634) 634 marg., The power which Sacraments have in augmenting Faith. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 58 [The Tiber] is augmented with two and forty riuers. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. §5. 66 The Chords of the Lyre were augmented gradually from four to forty. 1816 Scott Old. Mort. 217 The insurgents were intent upon augmenting and strengthening their forces. |
2. intr. To become greater in size, amount, degree, intensity, etc.; to increase, grow, swell.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5600 For to encrese, and not to lesse, For to aument and multiplie. 1475 Caxton Jason 51 The bruit of preu Jason augmentid and encresid from day to day. 1589 Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 39 The grasse hath his increase, yet never anie sees it augment. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 466 The Winds redouble, and the Rains augment. 1869 Tyndall Light §436 The polarizing angle augments with the refractive index of the medium. |
† 3. trans. To increase or add to the resources of; to enhance in circumstances. Obs.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 93 To augment his Realme in Rycesse, Welth, and Prosperyte. 1529 Wolsey in Four C. Eng. Lett. 11 Aggmentyng my lyvyng, and appoyntyng such thyngs as shuld be convenient for my furniture. 1601 Cornwallyes Essayes ii. xxxvi. (1631) 117 Thou augmentest their state purchasing a blessing upon their house and life. |
† 4. trans. and refl. To raise (a person) in estimation or dignity; to exalt. Obs.
| 1567 Trial Treas. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 273 Labour yourself to advance and augment. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. ii. §43 II. 84 Theobald..was augmented with the title of Legatus natus. |
† b. intr. To rise in estimation or dignity. Obs.
| 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. I v b, With a littell fauour ye wyll exalt, augement, and grow into gret prid. |
5. Her. (trans.) To make an honourable addition to (a coat of arms).
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. II. 357 The Armes of London were augmented with the addition of a Dagger. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xiii. 95 The Scottish Baronets..were authorized to augment their own arms. |
† 6. To multiply (mathematically). Obs.
| 1571 Digges Pantom. iii. iii. Q ij, The Solide content of a Cylinder is gotten by augmenting the base in his altitude. 1593 T. Fale Dialling 31 Augment the Sine of the Complement repeated, by the Sine of the doubtfull Arke: an the product arising thereof..shall be the distance, etc. |