expatiate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to speak or write at length and in detail about a subject, usually followed by on or upon

   The lecturer expatiated on the theory long after the audience had grasped the main point.

2. 2
   verb

   archaic: to move, wander, or range freely over a wide area

   The poet lets the imagination expatiate beyond the limits of ordinary experience.

From Latin expatiari ("wander from the path, move about freely"), from ex- ("out") + spatium ("space"). English first used the image of ranging over open ground; the dominant figurative sense treats extended speech as roaming widely through a subject.

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