Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Elaboration \E*lab`o*ra"tion\, n. [L. elaboratio: cf. F.
   ['e]laboration.]
   1. The act or process of producing or refining with labor;
      improvement by successive operations; refinement.

   2. (Physiol.) The natural process of formation or
      assimilation, performed by the living organs in animals
      and vegetables, by which a crude substance is changed into
      something of a higher order; as, the elaboration of food
      into chyme; the elaboration of chyle, or sap, or tissues.

Source : WordNet®

elaboration
     n 1: addition of extra material or illustration or clarifying
          detail; "a few remarks added in amplification and
          defense"; "an elaboration of the idea followed" [syn: {amplification}]
     2: the result of improving something; "he described a
        refinement of this technique" [syn: {refinement}]
     3: a discussion that provides additional information [syn: {expansion},
         {enlargement}]
     4: marked by elaborately complex detail [syn: {elaborateness},
        {intricacy}, {involution}]
     5: developing in intricate and painstaking detail [syn: {working
        out}]