| 释义 |
▪ I. broad, a. (n., adv.)|brɔːd|
Forms: 1 brád, 2–3 brad, 3–6 brod, 4–6 brode, 6 broode, 4–5 brood, 6– broad. Also north. 3–4 brad, (bradd), 4–5 brade, 4– Sc. braid. Compared broader, -est (1 brǽdre, brádre; brádost; 4–5 braddere, braddest; bredder).
[Common Teut.: OE. brád, identical with OFris. brêd, OSax. brêd (MDu. breet -d-, Du. breed), OHG. (MHG. and mod.G.) breit, ON. breið-r, (Sw., Da. bred), Goth. braiþ-s:—OTeut. *braido-z: no related words are known even in Teutonic, except its own derivatives: see breadth, brede.]
A. adj.
1. a. Extended in the direction measured from side to side; wide. Opposed to narrow.
a1000Cædmon's Gen. 994 (Gr.) Brad blado. c1000Ags. Ps. cxxxvi[i]. 1 Ofer Babilone bradum streame. c1205Lay. 7635 Þe stelene brond swiðe brad [c 1275 brod] and swiðe long. a1340Hampole Psalter viii. 7 Swa by the brad way thai ga till hell. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 386 With banys gret & schuldrys braid. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 249 Þe brode weie to helle. c1440York Myst. xxxii. 19 My forhed both brente is and brade. c1449Pecock Repr. 374 Noman is without a place long and brood. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cxxxiv. 113 To make his foreste lenger and bredder. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. xxvi. 121 The braid..way of deadly syn that leidis to hel. 1580Sidney Arcadia 239 About his neck he wore a brode and gorgeous collor. 1598Barret Theor. Warres iv. i. 95 The Broad square is the battell which conteineth more, or as much, as twise so many men in front, as in flank. 1611Bible Job xi. 9 Broader then the sea. a1762Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvi. 30 Not half so broad, as the broadest part of the Thames. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 417 A broad chest is an excellence in a hunter.
b. = in transverse measurement.
a1000O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) Introd., Brittene iᵹland is ehta hund mila lang and twa hund brad. 1297R. Glouc. 1 Foure hondred myle brod from Est to Weste. c1384Chaucer H. Fame 792 A litel rounded as a sercle Paraventure brode as a covercle. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1981/1 A twentie score brode from banke to banke aboue. 1601Holland Pliny I. 76 Almost an acre and a halfe broad. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 199 A Leaf no broader than a Three-pence. 1885Pall Mall G. 23 Feb. 11/1 The later Scouts are to be 5 ft. longer and 2 ft. broader.
c. Applied technically to certain fabrics, now or originally distinguished by their width, as broad cloth, q.v., broad glass (D 2); also broad silk as distinguished from silk ribbons; whence broad-silk-loom, broad-silk-weaver, broad stuffs, broad trade, broad weaver.
1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1762/4 Mr. John Guile, Broad-Weaver..in Spittle-fields. 1723Ibid. No. 6189/4 John Jacobs..Broad Silk Weaver. Ibid. No. 6190/9 Richard Gardner..Broad-Weaver. 1727De Foe Eng. Tradesm. xxi, We now make at home all the fine broad-silks, velvets, brocades. 1826Annual Reg. 59/1 The throwsters, the broad trade manufacturers, and the dyers admitted their superiority..But the ribband manufacturers, etc. 1841Penny Cycl. XIX. 490/1 A recent contrivance by which the broad-silk loom had been made applicable to ribbon-weaving. 1883American V. 262 The finest broad-silks..were produced in Macclesfield.
†d. broad gold, broad money: see broad-piece.
1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2352/2 Exchanging of Broad Mony for Clipt. 1702Ibid. No. 3814/4 A Piece of Broad Gold of K. Charles I. in his Armour. 1724Ibid. No. 6300/2 Two Persons have been offering to change Broad Gold for Guineas..They had 68 Broad Pieces.
e. Of bran: consisting of large particles.
1908Animal Managem. 98 Two varieties are distinguished as ‘broad’ or ‘fine’; in ‘broad’ bran the wheat husk is more or less whole and gives the article a flaky appearance.
2. a. Less definitely as to direction (e.g. where length is not applicable, or not in question): Of great extent, extensive, wide, ample, spacious.
a1000Elene 917 (Gr.) Is his rice brad. c1205Lay. 5087 In ænne bradne feld [c 1275 in to one brode felde]. a1300Cursor M. 8530 Ouer al þis werld brade. c1394P. Pl. Crede 118 We buldeþ a burwȝ, a brod and a large. a1400Morte Arth. 106 He salle..Bryne Bretayne þe brade. c1440Promp. Parv. 52 Brode or large of space, spaciosus. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 The hole brode worlde. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 339 In ample space under the broadest shade. 1784Cowper Task ii. 22 Human nature's broadest, foulest blot. 1814A. Wilson Rab & Ringan, As though braid Scotland had been a' his ain. 1843Lever J. Hinton vii. (1878) 47 The broad and swelling lands, that stretched away..far as the eye could reach.
†b. Of time. Obs.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 659 Fro mony a brod day byfore ho barayne ay byene.
†3.
a. Large in amount, ample, plentiful. Obs.
a1000Beowulf 6201 Beaᵹas and brad gold. a1225Ancr. R. 102 Mid brod schome & sunne. a1300Cursor M. 3713 His brade [v.r. brood] blissing he him gaue. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 584 Hit is a brod wonder.
†b. Abounding, full of. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 24744 Sua brad of hir blis es þe wai. c1320Sir Tristr. 177 Of folk þe feld was brade.
4. a. Wide open; fully expanded.
971Blickl. Hom. 23 Hie hine..mid bradre hand sloᵹan. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 67 Sume hine sloᵹan on hys ansiene mid hera brada handen. a1300Cursor M. 17837 Til heuen þai lifted þair eien brade. 1607Dekker & Webster Hist. Sir T. Wyat 19 Wee stand high in mans opinion, and the worldes broad eye.
b. esp. Of day, daylight, etc.
1393Gower Conf. II. 107 Ful oft, whan it is brode day. 1530Palsgr. 201/2 Broode daye, grant jour. 1579Fulke Refut. Rastel 722 We do not light wax candels in y⊇ brod day light. 1664Decay Chr. Piety (J.) It no longer seeks the shelter of night and darkness, but appears in the broadest light. 1690Locke (J.) If children were left alone in the dark, they would be no more afraid than in broad sunshine. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. iv. §3 A solitary walk before it was broad daylight. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. ii. 25 Awake through all the broad noonday. 1828Scott F.M. Perth III. 149 It cannot be concealed..it will all out to the broad day. 1879Lockyer Elem. Astron. iii. xxiv. 125 The comet of 1843..was visible in broad daylight.
5. a. Plainly displayed before the mental vision; plain, clear, obvious; ‘pronounced’, emphatic, explicit.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. v. 49 How brode sheweþ þe errour and þe folie of ȝow men. a1577Gascoigne Voy. Holland, I name no man, for that were brode before. 1699Bentley Phal. 184 Surely this is a hint broad enough. 1709Strype Ann. Ref. Introd. §1. 8 Mary, Queen of Scotland, and the Dauphin..gave broad signs of their pretences to the Crown of England. 1825Scott Talism. (1863) 215 He understands or guesses thy meaning—be not so broad, I pray thee. 1861Parker Goth. Archit. i. v. (1874) 161 There is no broad line of distinction. Mod. The hint is too broad to be mistaken.
b. Most apparent; prominent, outstanding, general, main. (Opposed to ‘subordinate’, ‘minute’.)
1860Kingsley Misc. I. 10, I merely take the broad facts of the story. 1869Huxley in Sci. Opinion 28 Apr. 486/2 A knowledge of [the] broad outlines [of a subject]. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 May 5/1 The broad features of the accident.
c. Denoting a type of phonetic transcription in which separate symbols are used only to denote distinctive sound units (phonemes); opp. narrow.
1877H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 105 The different values of each of the vowel signs in this system, which I will call ‘Broad Romic’, in apposition to the scientific ‘Narrow Romic’, as indicating only broad distinctions of sound. 1908― Sounds of English 9 A broad notation is one which makes only the practically necessary distinctions of sound in each language, and makes them in the simplest manner possible, omitting all that is superfluous. 1912Princ. Internat. Phonetic Assoc. 14 A broad transcription may be more accurately defined as a transcription obtained by using the minimum number of symbols requisite for representing without ambiguity the sounds of one language independently of other languages. 1932D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics (ed. 3) x. 50 A transcription of the type ‘one letter per phoneme’ is called a Broad Transcription. Ibid. 305 The transcription used in this book is not the broadest possible.
6. Of language (or the speaker):
a. Plainspoken, outspoken (often in a bad sense); unreserved, not mincing matters.
1588in Harl. Misc. (1809) II. 81, I..have been very often ashamed to hear so broad speeches of the King and the Pope. a1611Chapman Iliad i. 224 His wrath, that this broad language gave. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 77 Without anie broad or uncivil language. 1710Steele Tatler No. 208 ⁋3 A fulsom Way of commending you in broad terms. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. vii. (L.) The broadest and most repulsive declaration of all the Calvinistic tenets. 1870Jebb Sophocles' Electra (ed. 2) 36/1 She now repeats the avowal in broader terms.
†b. Coarse, unrefined, vulgar. Obs.
1490Caxton Eneydos 2, I toke an olde boke, and..the englysshe was so rude and brood that I coude not wele vnderstande it. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1860) 19 Speake a broad word..amongst huntsmen in chaze, you shall be leasht for your labor: as one that disgraceth a gentlemans pastime..with the termes of a heardsman.
c. Loose, gross, indecent.
1580North Plutarch (1676) 39 To sport one with another, without any broad speeches or uncomly jests. 1611Cotgr., Vn gras, a broad, or bawdie, tale. 1628Earle Microcosm. xlix. (Arb.) 70 Onely with broad and obscœne wit. a1700Dryden Ovid's Art of Love i. 882 Broad words will make her innocence afraid. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 278 Laughing outrageously at a broad story. 1882Traill Sterne 15 A collection of comic but extremely broad ballads.
7. a. Of pronunciation: Perhaps orig.: With ‘wider’ or ‘lower’ vowel-sounds (i.e. with the back or the front oral cavity more dilated); but commonly used of a strongly-marked dialectal or vulgar pronunciation of any kind, e.g. ‘broad Yorkshire’, ‘broad Devonshire’, ‘broad Cockney’. Broad Scotch: the Lowland Scotch vernacular.
1532[see C 3]. 1580A. Golding Pref. Verses in Baret's Alv., The diffrence..Of brode North speech and Sowthren smoothednesse. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece i. i. (1715) 3 The Ancient Greeks pronounc'd the letter α broad like the Diphthong αυ, as in our English word All. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 236 A broad north-country tone. 1787Burns Brigs of Ayr 167 In plain braid Scots hold forth a plain braid story. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 320 His oaths..were uttered with the broadest accent of his province. 1859Blackw. Mag. Sept. 255/2 Broad Yorkshire talked all over the ship. 1877Sweet Phonetics 18 In the broad London pronunciation this lengthening of originally short vowels is extremely common.
†b. Of sound: Full, deep, low in pitch. Obs.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 258 The females have a shrill and sharper voice then the males, which is fuller and broader.
8. Unrestrained, kept within no narrow bounds; going to full lengths.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 2 His prankes haue been too broad to beare with. 1815Scribbleomania 127 Kenny possesses some requisites for broad farce. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 207 She was the picture of broad, honest, vulgar enjoyment. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 183 The mirth is broader, the irony more sustained.
†9. Widely diffused; spread all abroad. Obs.
1605Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 23 As broad, and generall, as the casing Ayre.
10. Having a wide range, extensive; widely applicable, inclusive, general.
[1741–2H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann I. 93 The Tories..if Tories there are, for now one hears of nothing but the Broad Bottom; it is the reigning cant word, and means, the taking all parties and people indifferently into the ministry.] 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 45 Intellectual education in the broadest sense that was then possible. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xxi. 619 Personal feeling must be sacrificed to save..broader principles. 1875Hamerton Intell. Life x. v. 387 A broad rule..applicable to all imaginable cases.
11. Characterized by breadth of opinion or sentiment; liberal, catholic, tolerant, allowing wide limits to ‘orthodoxy’. (Cf. breadth 4, Broad Church.)
1832L. Hunt Poems 226 With his broad heart to win his way to heaven. 1850[See Broad Church]. 1873Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 323 Keats had the broadest mind. 1886Morley Crit. Misc. I. 78 Even good opinions are worth very little unless we hold them in a broad, intelligent and spacious way.
12. Art. Characterized by artistic ‘breadth’; executed with a view to general effect rather than to special details. Cf. 5 b, and see breadth 5.
1862Grote Greece ii. liv. IV. 561 A portrait of him drawn in colours broad and glaring. 1879Sala in Daily Tel. 8 May, Two broad, powerful, and vividly expressed portraits. 1885Athenæum 30 May 702/3 Broad and rich in tone and colour.
13. Phrases. † in the broad or the long: in one way or another. it's as broad as it's long (or as long as it's broad): it comes to the same thing either way, it makes no difference.
1682J. Scarlett Exchanges 171 If the Principal..doth force his factor one way or other, in the broad or the long, to make up his Disbursements. 1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 6 Whether the Church of England-Men Reject the Roman Catholiques, or the Roman Catholiques Reject the Church of England-Men, 'tis Just as Broad as it is Long. a1704― (J.) It is as broad as long, whether they rise to others, or bring others down to them. 1775Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 55 It is as long as it is broad—the more [troops] that are sent to Quebec the less they can send to Boston. 1848Kingsley Saint's Trag. ii. ix. 113 The sharper the famine, the higher are prices, and the higher I sell, the more I can spend..and so it's as broad as it's long.
B. n. [mostly elliptical.]
†1. Breadth: only in phrase in broad, on broad, o broad, a brode; now represented by abroad adv.
a1300Cursor M. 347 Þis werld..Seit for to be on lang and brad. c1420Anturs of Arth. xxxv, Beddus brauderit o brode. 1456Paston Lett. 281 I. 386 The straungiers ar soore a dradde, and dar not come on brode.
2. The broad part, the full breadth (of the back, the foot, etc.).
1741Monro Anat. (ed. 3) 294 The Broad of the Foot. Mod. To lie on the broad of one's back.
†3. = broadcloth. Obs.
c1500Arnolde Chron. (1811) 73 Clothes called fyn brodes of the makyng of Essex.
†4. = broad-piece. Obs.
1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4672/4 A..Purse, with 30 Guineas and 5 Brodes in it. 1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xlii. 224 Presenting one of the collectors with a broad (piece) or half a broad. 1763Snelling Gold Coin 28 (L.) When the twenty shilling pieces, commonly called guineas, were coined in the reign of Charles II, then the unites of the Commonwealth, Charles I, and James I, received the name of broads or broad-pieces.
5. In East Anglia, an extensive piece of fresh water formed by the broadening out of a river.
1659Sir T. Browne Let. 16 Nov. (1946) 351 Such deluges..might..settle lakes and broades. [1711Act 9 Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 4870/2 Fens, Lakes, broad Waters, or other Places of resort for Wild Fowl.] 1787Marshall Norfolk (E.D.S.) Broads, fresh-water lakes (that is, broad waters; in distinction to narrow waters, or rivers). 1812Southey Lett. (1856) II. 307 A broad is the spread of a river into a sheet of water. 1844E. Jesse Sc. & Tales Country Life I. 82 The graceful bendings of the stream, sometimes opening into shallow broads. 1884G. C. Davies (title) Norfolk Broads and Rivers; or, the Waterways, Lagoons, and Decoys of East Anglia.
attrib.1883Academy 8 Dec. 377/1 The artistic aspect of the Broad district.
6. slang. (pl.) Playing cards.
1789G. Parker Life's Painter xv. 129 Who are continually looking out for flats, in order to do them upon the broads, that is, cards. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Broads, cards; a person expert at which is said to be a good broad-player. 1834H. Ainsworth Rookwood iv. ii, I nick the broads. 1860Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) 105 Broads, cards. 1938Sharpe S. of Flying Squad xviii. 193 xx. 219 They..were also playing the Broads on the trains.
7. Turning. A tool having a disc or angular end with a sharpened edge used for turning the insides and bottoms of cylinders.
1846Holtzapffel Turning II. 515 The broad..requires to be held downwards or underhand.
8. A woman; spec. a prostitute. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 19 Broad,..A female confederate; a female companion; a woman of loose morals. 1915G. Bronson-Howard God's Man ii. ii. 131 Listen, broad,..you got your roasting clothes on to-day and you better take 'em off quick or I'll slam you one in the kisser. 1927Hemingway Men without Women 114 There were a couple of broads sitting at the next table. 1928Amer. Speech III. 218 Broad, a plump, shapely girl; the words [sic] sometimes carries a disparaging moral significance. 1931E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. xvi. 177 Slummock..had got into a jam with a broad; no ordinary broad, but a Coastguard's broad. 1962John o' London's 25 Jan. 82/3 Prostitutes are variously termed tarts, toms, broads.
C. adv. [in OE. a distinct word bráde, ME. brode: but on the mutescence of final -e, levelled with the adj.]
1. a. In a broad or extensive way; broadly, widely, fully; far, abroad.
a1000Cædmon's Gen. 223 (Gr.) Fison brade bebuᵹeþ. 1297R. Glouc. 417 Pur blod sprong & wende aboute brode & wyde. c1350Will. Palerne 753 A tri appeltre..þat was braunched ful brode. 1590Spenser F.Q. Prol., Whose praises..To blazon broad emongst her learned throng. a1744Pope (J.) Broad burst the lightnings, deep the thunders roll.
†b. With eyes wide open, with a stare. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 867 Though ye looken neuer so brode and stare. c1430Hymns Virg. &c. (1867) 37 Summe staren broode & moun not se.
2. a. Outspokenly, unreservedly.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 741 Crist spak himself ful broode in holy writ. c1440York Myst. xix. 89 Thou burdis to brode! 1607Shakes. Timon iii. iv. 64 Who can speake broader, then hee that has no house to put his head in? 1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. v. 29 We don't quite fancy when women and ministers come out broad and square, and go beyond us in matters of either modesty or morals.
†b. to laugh broad: to laugh freely, without restraint, grossly.
1643Milton Divorce Introd. (1851) 6 The brood of Belial..will laugh broad perhaps. 1658W. Burton Itin. Anton. 50 The wise men of the age will laugh broad at these..enquiries.
3. With a broad pronunciation or ‘accent’; with the vowels of dialectal or vulgar speech.
c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 899 Ye shal pronounce your e as ye do in latyn, almost as brode as ye pronounce your a in englysshe. 1596Edw. III, ii. i. 12 And then spoke broad, With epithets & accents of the Scots. Mod. ‘We Devonshire men speak very broad.’
4. broad awake, broad waking: fully awake, wide awake.
1583Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 53 From sleepe I broad waked. 1626T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 152 We dreame broad-waking. 1666J. Smith Old Age (ed. 2) 127 Then shall he be broad awake. 1736Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 29 Being in bed, but broad awake. 1844G. S. Faber Eight Dissert. II. 352 The bard seems to have been broad awake.
5. Naut. (Cf. large, wide.)
1860Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 82 A light was seen broad on the port bow [i.e. a good deal to the left of the point right ahead].
D. Comb. [from adj. and adv.]
1. General.
a. parasynthetic, as broad-backed, broad-based, broad-beamed (also transf.; cf. beam n.1 16 b), broad-bladed, broad-bodied, broad-bosomed, broad-bottomed, broad-boughed, broad-breasted, broad-buttocked, broad-chested, broad-eared, broad-eyed, broad-flapped, broad-fronted, broad-headed (1530), broad-hearted, broad-hoofed, broad-horned, broad-limbed, broad-listed, broad-margined, broad-minded, broad-nosed, broad-shouldered, broad-skirted, broad-souled, broad-sterned, broad-striped, broad-tailed, broad-toed, broad-wayed, broad-wheeled, broad-winged, etc., etc.;
b. adverbial, as broad-built, broad-flashing, broad-grinning, broad-spread, broad-spreading, etc.
1651Advt. in Proc. Parliament No. 81 A short Sorrell Mare..*broad backed. 1857Emerson Poems 49 We will climb the broad-backed hills.
1769Phil. Trans. LIX. 310 A *broad-based pyramid. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. vi. 263 A broad-based hierarchy.
1883Harper's Mag. Feb. 395/1 Brown-sailed, *broad-beamed old luggers. 1945M. Dickens Thursday Afternoons ii. 77 George in his broad-beamed blue shorts and striped fisherman's jersey.
1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 160 The fruit of the *broad-bosomed earth.
1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3837/4 A Silver Tankard, *broad bottom'd. 1804Ld. Eldon in G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 79 Forming an administration upon those broad-bottomed principles.
1647H. More Song of Soul ii. App. xxxiv, The *broad-breasted earth, the spacious skie. 1797Coleridge Christabel i. vi, The huge broad-breasted, old oak tree.
1768Wales in Phil. Trans. LX. 109 Their persons..seem to be low; but pretty *broad built.
1662Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 288 He had, as I may say, a *broad-chested soul, favourable to such who differed from him. 1870Bryant Iliad I. iii. 92 That other chief Taller and broader-chested than the rest.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. v. 29 *Broad-fronted Cæsar.
1530Palsgr. 307/1 *Brode-heeded, embrabile. 1838Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. vi. 163 Cover the wood with broad-headed nails.
1719De Foe Crusoe (Hotten) 414 A very generous *broad-hearted Man.
1585Act 27 Eliz. xvii, Any cloth..of like making called *Broad-listed Whites.
1599Marston Sco. Villanie 167 Base blew-coates, tapsters, *broad-minded slaues. 1882Ld. Blandford in Daily News 7 Feb. 3 No more broad-minded than..the Church they have seceded from.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Espaldudo *broad shouldered, scapulosus. 1842Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 178 Robust, broad-shouldered, with dark complexion.
1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 115 A *broad-skirted coat with huge buttons.
1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2211/4 A duskish brown bald Mare, *broad spread.
1591Spenser Ruins of Time 452 *Broad spreading like an aged tree.
1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 467 The *Broad-tailed Sheep.
1816G. Colman Br. Grins, Mr. Champern. i. (1872) 296 Like *broad-wheeled wagons without springs.
1816Keats To brother George, The *broad-wing'd sea-gull never at rest.
2. Special comb.: broad aisle or † alley U.S., the main aisle or passage in a church or meeting-house; broad band, (a) (see quots.); (b) Electr. a band (see band n.2 14) with a wide range of frequencies; also transf. and attrib.; broad-banded a., having broad bands of colour as a distinctive marking, esp. defining a species of armadillo; broad bean (see bean n. 1); broad-bill, (a) a name for several birds having broad bills, esp. the Shoveller and Spoonbill; (b) in full broadbill swordfish: the swordfish Xiphias gladius; broad-billed a., having a broad bill, esp. defining a species of sandpiper; broad-blown a., in full bloom, full-blown; broad-brow, broadbrow [f. as highbrow, etc.] colloq., a person of broad tastes or interests, not a highbrow or a lowbrow; broad-eyed a., having large eyes, with eyes wide open; broad-glass, window-glass; also attrib., as broad-glass-house, broad-glass-maker; broad-headedness Ethnol., brachycephaly; broad-horn, a kind of flat boat used on American rivers; broad jump = long jump (see jump n.1 1 b); broad-lace, a woollen material about four inches wide, used as an ornamental border in carriage upholstery; broad-leaf (Bot.), a tree (Terminalia latifolia) found in Jamaica; also a local name for the Greater Plantain (Plantago major); (also) a settlers' name for a New Zealand tree Griselinia littoralis; broadloom a., applied to a carpet woven in broad widths; also absol.; broad-man = broadsman (a); broad-mindedness, the condition of being liberal or tolerant in thought or opinion; broad money, a measure of the amount of money available in an economic system, according to a broad definition of money including, in addition to notes and coins, various kinds of bank deposit and sometimes also deposits held elsewhere; cf. M2, M3 s.v. M III. 9 and contr. with narrow money s.v. narrow a. 1 c; broad-mouthed a., having a broad mouth; also (of words) plain-spoken, insolent (obs.); broad-seed (Bot.), the English name of the genus Ulospermum; broad-set a., stoutly formed, thick-set; broad-silk, (see sense A 1 c.); broadsman, (a) (dial.), one who lives near the Norfolk Broads; (b) slang a card-sharper; broad-spectrum a. (orig. U.S.), of a drug, effective over a wide range of diseases or micro-organisms; broad-spoken a., using plain language, plain-spoken; broad stone = ashlar 1, freestone1 1; broad trade (see sense A 1 c.); broadwalk chiefly U.S., a wide street, pavement, or foot-path; a promenade; broad-weaver (see sense A 1 c.).
1807Massachusetts Spy 25 Mar. (Th.), Another pew at the right hand of the *broad aisle, esteemed the pleasantest in said house. 1887Harper's Mag. Dec. 161/2 Miss Flint shall have pew No. 40 in the broad aisle.
1731in H. S. Sheldon Doc. Hist. Suffield 250 Whether the *Broad alley in the meeting House should be fil'd up. 1806Intelligencer (Lancaster, Pa.) 21 Oct. (Th.), Mr. Deming was sitting in the Pew east of the broad Alley.
1629Boyd Last Battell 643 (Jam.) The verie euill thoughts of the wicked in that day shalbe spread out and laide in *broad-band before the face of God. 1847Halliwell, Broad-band, corn laid out in the sheaf on the band, and spread out to dry after rain. North: [see also Jamieson, and Atkinson Provinc. Danby s.v.] 1956Heflin U.S.A.F. Dict. 92/2 Broadband, a band having a wide range of frequencies. 1960H. Carter Dict. Electronics 32 Broad-band radio systems. 1962H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Work (ed. 2) vi. 186 By accepting this ‘broad-band’ objective it is possible to simplify the application of the method.
1904Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 10/1 The *broad-banded species (Xenurus unicinctus) is a rare creature [sc. armadillo] from Surinam.
1783Bryant Flora Diætetica 83 The common *Broad Bean is a native of Egypt. 1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Vicia, The long-pods, broad Spanish, and white-blossomed bean.
1634Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 23, Teales 7—Peckards 3—*Broad-bills 5. 1802G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 55. 1927 Z. Grey Tales of Swordfish iii. 107 Few novices at the game ever held a broadbill longer than a few moments. Ibid. iv. 125 There were never any flukes in broadbill swordfishing. Ibid. vii. 157 The broadbill swordfish was the one fish in the world which could not be caught through luck. 1969Guardian 8 Mar. 7/5 If you are dedicated to catching marlin swordfish and broadbills, it is an obsession.
1839Peabody in Zool. & Bot. Surv. Mass.: Birds 367 The *Broad billed Sandpiper..is very rare in the United States.
[1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 81 With all his Crimes *broad blowne, as fresh as May.] 1855Tennyson Maud i. xiii. 9 His face..Has a broad-blown comeliness red and white. 1877Dowden Shaks. Primer vi. 72 Bottom in his broad-blown self-importance.
1927A. P. Herbert in Punch 12 Jan. 51/1 (title) Ballads for *Broad-brows. 1927Observer 11 Sept. 21/1 It is no longer highbrow versus lowbrow. We are all broadbrows, and what we want to listen to depends on our mood. 1929H. G. Wells King who was King i. §2. 22 The Broadbrow is as anxious not to be ‘arty’ as the Low-brow and as terrified of the cheap and obvious as the High-brow.
a1611Chapman Iliad viii. 173 *Brood-eyed Joves proud will. 1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. (1858) 23 Some fast asleepe, others broad-eyed.
1679Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 122 The glass-houses, both for Vessells and *broad-glass. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4723/3 Any broad Glass-house within the Kingdom. 1712Ibid. No. 4951/4 Broad Glass, or Window-Glass..sold by any of the Broadglass-makers. 1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 651 Next to it in cheapness of material may be ranked broad or spread window-glass.
1890T. H. Huxley in 20th Cent. Nov. 758 In the extreme north..marked *broad-headedness is combined with low stature..in the Lapps.
1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 193 A flat-bottomed family boat, technically called a *broad-horn.
1846Dodd Brit. Manuf. VI. 132 The lace employed..is used as a binding or edging for various parts of the interior [of a coach]; the finest is called *‘broad-lace’.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 255 *Broad-leaf Tree..grows to a very considerable size. 1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 534 Broad Leaf, the Terminalia latifolia, a tree, native of Jamaica. 1879W. N. Blair Building Materials of Otago 155 There are few trees in the bush so conspicuous, or so well known as the broad⁓leaf. 1908W. P. Reeves N.Z. iv. 94 The foliage which the broadleaf puts forth quite eclipses the leaves of most of the trees upon which it rides. 1956N.Z. Timber Jrnl. July 54/1 Broadleaf, Griselinia littoralis Raoul. Cornac. Papaumu. A small tree of N.Z. with wide distribution from sea-level to beyond timber line.
1925Carpet & Rug World Apr. 50/3 Belgrade *Broadloom Carpet. 1954Archit. Rev. CXV. 138/1 Broadloom carpets are woven generally at widths of 10/4, 12/4, 14/4 and 16/4. 1963Which? Mar. 70/2 Many carpets are sold as ‘broadloom’. This is not a type, but a width.
1884G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xix. 145 The *Broadman's food is chiefly fish and fowl.
1893Athenæum 2 Dec. 770/3 There was a rare combination in him of bigotry and *broad-mindedness.
1979Papers & Proc. Amer. Econ. Rev. LXIX. ii. 333/1 The *broader money stocks M2..M5. 1981Banker July 48/2 In this case it is the velocity of broad money eg M3, that is relevant, not narrow money). 1985Times 9 Oct. 21/1 The Chancellor is still keeping a beady eye fixed on his other monetary indicator, {pstlg}M3 (broad money, in English though not in American).
1594Greene Selimus Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 286 Your squared words And *broad-mouth'd tearmes. 1864Mag. for Young May 179 A broad-mouthed glass jar.
1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4465/6 A plain *broad-set light gray Mare. 1858W. Ellis Vis. Madagascar ii. 47 He was..rather broad-set than corpulent.
1860Hotten Dict. Slang. (ed.2) 105 *Broadsman, a card sharper. 1882Blackw. Mag. Jan. 100 The fixed belief among a large number of Broadsmen is that they breed upon the land. 1938Sharpe S. of Flying Squad xviii. 193 Broadsmen, or three card sharpers, kept the Flying Squad busy in its early days.
1952Sci. Amer. Apr. 49/3 They are known as the *broad-spectrum drugs, because each of them attacks a wide range of infections. 1954S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 12) x. 121 The ‘broad spectrum’ antibiotics..are clinically effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. 1969Times 3 Mar. 5/8 The new concept of integrated pest control was discussed... It means avoiding the broad spectrum chemicals and changing lines of attack.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 56 *Broad-stone..the same with Free-stone,..so called, because they are raised broad and thin out of the Quarries. 1842Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Broad Stone, the same as free-stone.
1930H. M. Tomlinson All our Yesterdays i. 3 A number of seamen, ironworkers, and dockers, idled in groups about the *broadwalk beneath. 1939Florida (Federal Writers' Project) ii. 178 Oceanfront Park, with its..concrete broadwalk and privately operated amusement pier. 1985Financial Times 7 June 12/7 Virginia Beach is one of the nicest east coast resort cities, with a broadwalk that runs three and one-half miles along clean sand and challenging waves.
Add:[D.] [2.] broad-brush a., (as if) painted with a broad brush; wide-ranging but lacking in detail; general, sweeping.
1967New Scientist 28 Sept. 665/2 As a ‘*broad brush’ indication of the state of health of a project, the Confidence Profile may be used. 1985Austral. Business 4 Sept. 141/2 A broad-brush picture of accountants who advertise divides firms into two categories.
broad-leaf, (b) any broad-leaved tree (see broad-leaved a. c); any of the dicotyledonous (hardwood) trees of the class Angiospermae, as contrasted with the conifers (softwoods) of the class Coniferae (and with monocotyledonous angiosperms such as palms); also attrib. or as adj.
1909Forest Club Ann. I. 23 The aspen is the most widely distributed and the most conspicuous broadleaf tree. 1939F. H. Lamb Bk. of Broadleaf Trees 15 The Broadleafs are ubiquitous, varied, complex. 1985Nature 8 Aug. 475/1 One-third of Britain's productive timberland..is planted in broadleaves.
Broad Left Pol., a loose coalition of socialist, communist, and other left-wing groups presenting a unified alternative to the candidates and policies of the right.
1973Times Higher Educ. Suppl. 30 Nov. 5/3 Left-wing groups from the *Broad Left to the ‘ultra Left’ were equally disillusioned after the overthrow of the..Marxist government in Chile. 1986Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 3 Sept. 5/1 The great danger for the Government, the Labor Party generally and what might loosely be called the Broad Left is that the New Right is starting to dictate the terms of the political agenda.
broadscale a., on a broad scale; extensive; cf. widescale s.v. wide a. 12 c.
1958Spectator 30 May 703/2 The system simply does not work without modern *broadscale advertising. 1987Financial Times 8 May (World Banking Suppl.) p. iii/4 Mr Coombes' last option was the broadscale alternative, sharing electronic systems with other banks, or buying in systems.
▪ II. broad
Sc. form of board: cf. brod.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 3 Part tha fand in ald broades of bukis. 1801Macneill Poems (1844) 67 Window broads just painted red.
▪ III. † broad, v. Obs.
Also 4 north. brade.
[f. the adj.]
trans. To broaden, spread abroad, expand.
a1250Owl & Night. 1312 Þe (a)mansing is so ibroded. a1340Hampole Psalter cxviii[xix]. 32 When thou bradid [dilatasti] my hert. Bradynge of hert is delytynge of rightwisnes. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeless ii. 141 Þe blessid bredd brodid his wyngis. |