Etymology

Verb

1. To make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon.
   • 1817, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, ch. 13:

     The business, however, though not perfectly elucidated by this speech, soon ceased to be a puzzle.

   • 1960, "Medicine: Unmasking the Brain," Time, 4 April:

     [P]hysicians at the annual meeting of the American Academy of General Practice were fascinated by a 3-ft. model showing the brain's components in 20 layers of translucent plastic, and wired for colored lights to elucidate some of its workings.

   • 2004, David Bernstein, “Philosophy Hitches a Ride With ‘The Sopranos’,” New York Times, 13 April (retrieved 19 Aug. 2009):

     The new Sopranos volume has 17 essays that examine the television show and elucidate concepts from classical philosophers, including Aristotle, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Sun Tzu and Plato.

2. To disambiguate.