dilate

Etymology

From Middle English dilaten, from Old French dilater, from Latin dīlātō (“I spread out”), from di- (variant of dis-) + lātus (“wide”).

verb

1. (transitive) To enlarge; to make bigger.
   The eye doctor put drops in my eye to dilate the pupil so he could see the nerve better.
2. (intransitive) To become wider or larger; to expand.
   His heart dilates and glories in his strength.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To speak largely and copiously; to dwell in narration; to enlarge; with "on" or "upon".
   But still they on their ancient joys dilate. 1810, George Crabbe, The Borough
4. (medicine, transitive, intransitive) To use a dilator to widen (something, such as a vagina).
   An experimenter in New York has recently advocated what he is pleased to call temporary forcible dilatation of the trachea in the treatment of membranous croup, his idea being to introduce into the trachea a dilator and to forcibly dilate, every few hours if need be, and he reports favorable results. 1896, The Chicago Medical Recorder, page 62
   In very tight and obstinate stricture I sometimes dilate every day, but as soon as it has been stretched up to 23 or 24, I dilate every other day, or at greater intervals, keeping the instrument in place several minutes. 1911, Abraham Leo Wolbarst, Gonorrhea in the Male: A Practical Guide to Its Treatment, page 148
   He gave her some of the dilators he used to dilate her vagina shortly after the surgery and encouraged her to do it frequently. 2010, Kehinde Adeola Ayeni, Feasts of Phantoms, Fisher King Press, page 148
   It is important to realize that a number of these women do not want to have their vaginismus treated but only to achieve pregnancy. […] The use of hard plastic rods with increasing diameters, a sort of pseudopenis, can be useful, provided it is explained to the woman that these rods are not used to dilate her vagina but are a means of training the relaxation of her pelvic muscles and of getting these muscles under control. 2012, Wolf Eicher, Götz Kockott, Sexology, Springer Science & Business Media