Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Hyperbole"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Hyperbole \Hy*per"bo*le\, n. [L., fr. Gr?, prop., an
overshooting, excess, fr. Gr. ? to throw over or beyond;
"ype`r over + ? to throw. See {Hyper-}, {Parable}, and cf.
{Hyperbola}.] (Rhet.)
A figure of speech in which the expression is an evident
exaggeration of the meaning intended to be conveyed, or by
which things are represented as much greater or less, better
or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated
fancifully, through excitement, or for effect.
Our common forms of compliment are almost all of them
extravagant hyperboles. --Blair.
Somebody has said of the boldest figure in rhetoric,
the hyperbole, that it lies without deceiving.
--Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
hyperbole
n : extravagant exaggeration [syn: {exaggeration}]
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