The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Elaborate \E*lab"o*rate\, a. [L. elaboratus, p. p. of elaborare
   to work out; e out + laborare to labor, labor labor. See
   Labor.]
   Wrought with labor; finished with great care; studied;
   executed with exactness or painstaking; as, an elaborate
   discourse; an elaborate performance; elaborate research.
   [1913 Webster]

         Drawn to the life in each elaborate page. --Waller.

   Syn: Labored; complicated; studied; perfected; high-wrought.
        -- E*lab"o*rate*ly, adv. -- E*lab"o*rate*ness, n.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Elaborate \E*lab"o*rate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Elaborated; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Elaborating.]
   1. To produce with labor
      [1913 Webster]

            They in full joy elaborate a sigh,    --Young.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To perfect with painstaking; to improve or refine with
      labor and study, or by successive operations; as, to
      elaborate a painting or a literary work.
      [1913 Webster]

            The sap is . . . still more elaborated and exalted
            as it circulates through the vessels of the plant.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

elaborate
    adj 1: marked by complexity and richness of detail; "an
           elaborate lace pattern" [syn: elaborate, luxuriant]
    2: developed or executed with care and in minute detail; "a
       detailed plan"; "the elaborate register of the inhabitants
       prevented tax evasion"- John Buchan; "the carefully
       elaborated theme" [syn: detailed, elaborate,
       elaborated]
    v 1: add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning
         of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing; "She
         elaborated on the main ideas in her dissertation" [syn:
         elaborate, lucubrate, expatiate, exposit,
         enlarge, flesh out, expand, expound, dilate]
         [ant: abbreviate, abridge, contract, cut,
         foreshorten, reduce, shorten]
    2: produce from basic elements or sources; change into a more
       developed product; "The bee elaborates honey"
    3: make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or
       pattern" [syn: complicate, refine, rarify, elaborate]
    4: work out in detail; "elaborate a plan" [syn: elaborate,
       work out]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

222 Moby Thesaurus words for "elaborate":
   Babylonian, Byzantine, Corinthian, Gongoresque, Gongoristic,
   Marinistic, adorn, affected, amplify, arabesque, artificial,
   assemble, assiduous, awe-inspiring, awful, balled up, barbaric,
   baroque, beautify, build, busy, cast, chichi, clarify, comment,
   complete, complex, complicated, compose, compound, concoct,
   confounded, confused, construct, convolute, convoluted, crabbed,
   create, cultivate, daedal, decorate, decorated, deluxe, descant,
   detail, detailed, develop, devious, devise, dilate, diligent,
   discuss, dressy, dwell upon, elaborated, elegant, embellish,
   embellished, embrangled, embroider, enlarge, enlarge upon, enrich,
   entangled, enter into detail, erect, euphuistic, evolve, expand,
   expatiate, explain, explicate, expound, extravagant, extrude,
   fabricate, fancy, fashion, festoon, fine, finish, flamboyant,
   florid, flourish, flowery, form, formulate, fouled up, frame,
   frilly, fudge together, fussy, get up, gild, glorious, go into,
   gordian, grand, grandiose, high-wrought, hyperelegant, implicated,
   imposing, impressive, indite, industrious, interpret, intricate,
   involuted, involve, involved, knotted, knotty, labor, labored,
   labyrinthian, labyrinthine, load with ornament, loused up,
   luxuriant, luxurious, magnificent, majestic, make, make up,
   mannered, manufacture, many-faceted, matted, mature, mazy,
   meandering, messed up, mixed up, mold, moresque, mucked up,
   multifarious, noble, operose, ornament, ornate, ostentatious,
   overcharge, overdone, overelaborate, overelegant, overlabored,
   overlay, overload, overnice, overrefined, overworked, overwrought,
   painstaking, palatial, particularize, patch together, perfect,
   perplexed, picturesque, piece together, plush, polish, posh,
   precieuse, precieux, precious, prefabricate, prepare, pretentious,
   pretty-pretty, princely, produce, proud, put together, put up,
   raise, ramified, rear, refine, rehearse in extenso,
   relate at large, rich, ripen, ritzy, rococo, roundabout, run up,
   screwed up, season, sedulous, set up, shape, snarled,
   sophisticated, spell out, splendacious, splendid, splendiferous,
   stately, studied, subtle, sumptuous, superb, superfancy, superfine,
   swank, swanky, swell, tangled, tangly, thorough, thoroughgoing,
   trick out, twisted, unfold, unnatural, varnish, whomp up, work out,
   write