Word of the Day for Wednesday August 24, 2005 expatiate \ek-SPAY-shee-ayt\, intransitive verb: 1. To speak or write at length or in considerable detail. 2. To move about freely; to wander. He had told her all he had been asked to tell--or all he meant to tell: at any rate he had been given abundant opportunity to expatiate upon a young man's darling subject--himself. --Henry Blake Fuller, [1]Bertram Cope's Year At the midday meal on fair day, a large one (meat loaf, boiled potato, broccoli), Mrs. Lucas, married to the man with the earache, expatiates on the difficulties of caring for a parakeet her daughter has unloaded upon her and which, let out of its cage for an airing, has escaped through the door suddenly opened by Mr. Lucas. --William H. Pritchard, [2]Updike: America's Man of Letters His relationship with his family was for many years an unhappy one, and he does not care to expatiate upon it. --Barbara La Fontaine, "Triple Threat On, Off And Off-Off Broadway," [3]New York Times, February 25, 1968 _________________________________________________________ Expatiate is from Latin expatiari, "to walk or go far and wide," from ex-, "out" + spatiari, "to walk about," from spatium, "space; an open space, a place for walking in." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1419109723/ref=nosim/lexico 2. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/158642002X/ref=nosim/lexico 3. http://www.nytimes.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=expatiate