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1 definition found

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

  Explain \Ex*plain"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Explained}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Explaining}.] [L. explandare to flatten, spread out,
     explain; ex out+plandare to make level or plain, planus
     plain: cf. OF. esplaner, explaner. See {Plain},a., and cf.
     {Esplanade}.]
     1. To flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand. [Obs.]
  
              The horse-chestnut is . . . ready to explain its
              leaf.                                 --Evelyn.
  
     2. To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of
        obscurity; to expound; to unfold and illustrate the
        meaning of; as, to explain a chapter of the Bible.
  
              Commentators to explain the difficult passages to
              you.                                  --Gay.
  
     {To explain away}, to get rid of by explanation. ``Those
        explain the meaning quite away.'' --Pope.
  
     Syn: To expound; interpret; elucidate; clear up.

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