Widen \Wid"en\, v. i. To grow wide or wider; to
enlarge; to spread; to extend. [1913 Webster] Arches widen, and
long aisles extend. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
Word Net
widenVerb
1 become broader or wider or more extensive; "The
road widened" [ant: narrow]
2 make (clothes) larger; "Let out that dress--I
gained a lot of weight" [syn: let out] [ant:
take
in]
3 make wider; "widen the road"
4 extend in scope or range or area; "The law was
extended to all citizens"; "widen the range of applications";
"broaden your horizon"; "Extend your backyard" [syn: broaden, extend]
Moby Thesaurus
accrue, accumulate, add to, advance, aggrandize, amplify, appreciate, augment, balloon, bloat, blow up, boom, branch, branch out, breed, broaden, build, build up, bulk, bulk out, crescendo, deal in generalities, deepen, deploy, develop, dilate, disperse, distend, ecumenicize, enlarge, expand, extend, fan, fan out, fill out, flare, gain, gain strength, generalize, get ahead, globalize, go up, greaten, grow, hike, hike up, huff, increase, inflate, intensify, magnify, make a generalization, mount, multiply, open, open up, outspread, outstretch, overgrow, overrun, proliferate, puff, puff up, pump, pump up, raise, ramify, rarefy, rise, run up, shoot up, snowball, splay, spraddle, sprangle, sprawl, spread, spread like wildfire, spread out, strengthen, stretch, sufflate, swell, tumefy, unfold, universalize, up, waxEnglish
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -aɪdən
Verb
Translations
to become wider
- French: s’élargir
- German: sich weiten
- Italian: allargarsi
- Kurdish:
to make wider
to broaden or extend
Geography
The village center is situated on a little
plateau between the Mutschellen in
the south and the Hasenberg in the
north, of which the latter is the southernmost part of the Heitersberg. In
the west the plateau goes down to the Reuss.
Widen has grown together with some of its
neighbour villages Berikon, Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg
and Zufikon. Of the
total area (260 hectares) 44 hectares are forest and 98 are built
upon. The highest point of the village lies on the Hasenberg at 740
meters, the lowest point at 430 meters near Eggenwil.
Neighbour villages are Bellikon in the
north, Bergdietikon
in the north-east, Rudolfstetten-Fridlisberg
in the east, Berikon in the
south-east, Zufikon in the
south and Eggenwil in the
west.
History
At the end of the 12th century
a manor called "Wyda" is mentioned the first time, there's no exact
year. "Widen", in the way like it's written today, appears the
first time during the 14th
century.
In medieval times, the manor belonged to Habsburg. 1415 the Eidgenossen
conquered the Aargau and Widen then belonged to the Grafschaft
Baden. In March 1798 the French conquered Switzerland and
proclamated the Helvetic
Republic, in which Widen and Eggenwil formed one single
municipality in the short-dated canton of Baden. After the
foundation of the canton of Aargau 1803, Widen and
Eggenwil were separated. Up to that time, there's not much known
about Widen, because there are almost no documents left.
During the 19th century
Widen stayed a small village. Lots of poor inhabitants had to leave
their home and emigrated. The given up farms were freshly occupied
by people from the canton of Bern, which were
protestant. That's why today, compared to its merely catholic
neighbour villages, Widen has a relatively high percentage of
protestant inhabitants.
On the 1 May 1902 the Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn
was founded and Widen was connected to the railway network, by a
station on the Mutschellen
pass. During the first half of the 20th century
Widen stayed small. However, from 1950 to 1990 the population began
to grow very fast, 1990 3915 people lived
in Widen. The population then sank slightly and now it stays
constantly at about 3600 people.
widen in German: Widen
widen in French: Widen
widen in Italian: Widen
widen in Latin: Widen
widen in Dutch: Widen
widen in Portuguese: Widen
widen in Russian: Виден (Швейцария)
widen in Simple English: Widen
widen in Swedish: Widen (kommun, CH-AG)
widen in Volapük:
Widen