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单词 broad
释义

† broadn.2

Etymology: Variant of board n. Compare brod n.2
Scottish. Obsolete.
= board n.
ΚΠ
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) I. 3 Part tha fand in ald broades of bukis.
?1795 H. Macneill Scotland's Scaith 12 Window broads just painted red.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

broadadj.1n.1

Brit. /brɔːd/, U.S. /brɔd/, /brɑd/
Forms: early Old English braad, early Old English braed- (in compounds), Old English bradd- (inflected form, before r), Old English brand (transmission error), Old English brat (rare), Old English–Middle English (in later use chiefly northern) brad, late Old English bred (Kentish), early Middle English brord (transmission error), Middle English bradd (northern), Middle English brade (chiefly northern), Middle English broid, Middle English brood, Middle English–1500s brodde, Middle English–1500s broode, Middle English–1600s brod, Middle English–1700s (1800s Irish English (Wexford)) brode, late Middle English– broad, 1500s–1600s broade, 1800s– braid (Irish English (northern)); English regional (chiefly northern) 1700s–1800s braad, 1800s brade, 1800s braid, 1800s bread, 1800s breead, 1800s breyad, 1800s broard, 1800s brod- (in compounds); also Scottish pre-1700 braad, pre-1700 brad, pre-1700 brade, pre-1700 braide, pre-1700 brayd, pre-1700 bred, pre-1700 breid, pre-1700 brod, pre-1700 brode, pre-1700 1700s–1800s bread, pre-1700 1700s– braid, 1800s bredd. Comparative Old English braddra, Old English bradra, Old English bræddr- (inflected form), Old English brædr- (inflected form), late Old English bradre, late Old English–Middle English bradder, Middle English braddere, Middle English braddore, Middle English bredder, Middle English brodder, Middle English broddere, Middle English broder, 1500s– broader; also Scottish pre-1700 bradar, pre-1700 bradare, pre-1700 brader, pre-1700 1800s– braider, 1900s– braidir. Superlative Old English bradost, late Old English bradest, Middle English braddest, Middle English breddest, Middle English brodeste, 1500s– broadest; also Scottish pre-1700 bredest, pre-1700 1800s– braidest.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian brēd , breid , Old Dutch brēt (in place names; Middle Dutch breet , Dutch breed ), Old Saxon brēd (Middle Low German brēt ), Old High German breit (Middle High German, German breit ), Old Icelandic breiðr , Old Swedish bredher (Swedish bred ), Old Danish breth (Danish bred ), Gothic braiþs < the same Germanic base as brede n.2; further etymology uncertain, perhaps ultimately < the Indo-European base of bear v.1, although the exact nature of the formation would be unclear, and the closest semantic parallel among the cognates of bear v.1 would be Lithuanian berti to scatter. With use as noun compare breadth n. and brede n.2Some early forms of the comparative (compare Old English brǣdr- ) show i-mutation of the stem vowel caused by the original vowel of the suffix (see discussion at -er suffix3). Early parallel in Latin. Compare post-classical Latin brada (noun) broad field (c1225 in a British source, apparently < English); this sense is not directly paralleled at broad n.1, but compare the discussion (and forms) of early place names at brede n.2 Specific senses. In use with reference to cloth (see sense B. 3) apparently short for broadcloth n. In use with reference to a coin (see sense B. 6) short for broad piece n.; compare also slightly earlier broad gold n. at Compounds 3. The origin of the use with reference to a woman (see sense B. 9) is uncertain. Use denoting the Broads of East Anglia. The uses as noun with reference to the freshwater lakes of East Anglia (see sense B. 5) probably developed from earlier adjective uses designating areas of great spatial extent (compare collocations such as broad waters at sense A. 2, and also broad water n. and broad sea n. at Compounds 3). Such use does not seem to have originated in the context of naming, as use of the noun as a place-name element is much later (19th cent.) and evidence for phrases with broad adj.1 in early place names of that area is very limited. Compare (in the parish of Martham in Norfolk) Martham Brodee (1327; compare ea n.), apparently with reference to a stretch of water or marsh attested earlier as Breyflete (1292; compare fleet n.2), and Brodewatere (1466; now Martham Old Broad, the name of a stream), while the name Martham Broad (for a different body of water) is not attested before the 20th cent. More generally, use of the adjective with reference to various bodies of water (standing and running) is already attested in Old English and is common as a first element in boundary markers in charter bounds and in early place names in many regions; compare the evidence cited at broad water n. and also Bradewatre , the name of a hundred in Hertfordshire (1086; now Broadwater) and Bradewatre , the name of a settlement in Sussex (1086; now Broadwater) and Brademere , Nottinghamshire (1086; now Bradmore; compare mere n.1). Pronunciation history. The modern standard pronunciation developed via a shortening of the reflex of Middle English long open ō ( < Old English ā) before a dental, with the resulting short vowel being lengthened again in the particular phonetic environment of this word, specifically the preceding r in conjunction with the following dental (compare the discussion in E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunciation 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §53). Evidence for the short vowel is found in the 15th and 16th centuries (e.g. in rhymes with God and rod), and the new long vowel is attested in a rhyme with fraud in the second half of the 16th cent.
A. adj.1
I. Wide in extent, and related senses.
1.
a. Having great extent from side to side; of large or more than average width or breadth; = wide adj. 5. Opposed to narrow.Now typically used to refer generally to superficial extent, with wide being typically used where actual measurement from point to point is possible or contemplated, although use in the latter context is still found (see sense A. 1b).
ΚΠ
OE Genesis A (1931) 994 Of þam brad blado bealwa gehwilces sprytan ongunnon.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxxxvi. 1 Ofer Babilone bradum streame, þær we sittað.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 3806 Þe stelene brond swiðe brad [c1300 Otho brod] & swiðe long.
c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 138 Al forto make his foreste longer & broder [1480 Caxton lenger and bredder].
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) viii. §7. 29 Swa by the brad way thai ga till hell.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. iii. sig. Kk5 About his necke he ware a brode & gorgeous coller.
1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iv. 95 The Broad square is the battell which conteineth more, or as much, as twise so many men in front, as in flank.
1611 Bible (King James) Job xi. 9 Broader then the sea. View more context for this quotation
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 10 Apr. (1965) I. 397 Not..half so broad as the broadest part of the Thames.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 269 A broad chest is an excellence in a hunter.
1957 ‘R. West’ Fountain Overflows ii. 46 Here there were huge joints of beef, marbled with broad veins of fat.
2018 F. Cantú Line becomes River 191 He wore the traditional dress of a Mexican charro with a broad sombrero and a moño tied loosely around his neck.
b. Measuring a specified width: (a) with a (usually premodifying) noun phrase consisting of a noun denoting a measure of width premodified by a numeral or quantifier; also forming part of such a phrase used attributively (e.g. an eighty feet broad canal) or introduced by of (e.g. a street of twenty feet broad) (now rare); (b) in expressions of relative width, indicated by a comparison.
ΚΠ
OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) Introd. Brytene igland is ehta hund mila lang & twa hund mila brad.
OE Ælfric Hexameron (Hatton 115) 44 Ðæt lyft is swa heah swa swa ða heofonlican wolcnu and eac ealswa brad swa swa þære eorðan bradnyss.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7 Tuo hundred mile brod fram est to west.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (1868) l. 155 She hadde a fair forheed It was almoost a spanne brood I trowe.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 792 A litel roundell as a sercle Parauenture brode as a couercle.
1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 1616/2 A twentie score brode from banke to banke aboue.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 76 Almost an acre and a halfe broad.
1691 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense (ed. 8) 47 A Leaf as broad as a Threepenny Piece.
1735 J. Price Some Considerations Stone-bridge Thames 4 A Street or Coach-way of 20 Feet broad.
1749 Universal Mag. July 43/1 These tables or shelves should be about four feet broad.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. II. 283/1 It was 6 feet broad and of the same height.
1859 F. A. Griffiths Artillerist's Man. (1862) 261 A space of about 30 feet broad, extending round the counterscarp of the ditch.
1879 J. S. Campion On Foot in Spain xiii. 174 Its single span springs across not only the eighty feet broad canal but also the wide tow-path.
1885 Pall Mall Gaz. 23 Feb. 11/1 The later Scouts are to be 5 ft. longer and 2 ft. broader.
1977 R. B. Tisserand Art of Aromatherapy xi. 262 The leaves of patchouli are ovate, about four inches long and five inches broad.
2003 Times 29 Dec. 27/1 Small, slender tiles, each about twice as long as it is broad.
c. Designating types of cloth distinguished by their width and often (by implication) quality. Cf. broadcloth n. and adj., Compounds 2, sense B. 3. Now chiefly historical.
ΚΠ
a1399 in W. G. Benham Oath Bk. Colchester (1907) 9 For j. pece brod woll cloth 1d.; and for j. pece streyt, ob.
c1475 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 154 (MED) Delyvered to Richert Baron a ȝerde and an halfe off brode russett.
1588 in D. Yaxley Researcher's Gloss. Hist. Documents E. Anglia (2003) 59 One lyverie Cupborde wth turned postes, wth a carpett of grene brode cotton iijs. iiijd.
1729 Pennsylvania Gaz. 25 Feb. Irish Hollands, Huckabacks, Fine Diaper, sundry sorts, both broad and narrow, Shirting Cloth [etc.].
1760 Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury 1 Jan. 3/3 Three Quarters, 7–8, and Yard-wide Irish Linen..plain broad Worsted Quality, narrow ditto, white Silk stay Cord ditto.
1857 J. James Hist. Worsted Manuf. in Eng. x. 438 Flannels, broad flannels a yard wide, Salisbury flannels, [etc.].
1931 J. de Lacy Mann in A. P. Wadsworth & J. de Lacy Mann Cotton Trade & Industr. Lancs. ii. vi. 124 In that comparatively remote place could be had..broad glazed calico at 1s.
2006 Agric. Hist. Rev. 54 30 His inventory was valued at £315 8s. 0d. and included 31 yards of russet cloth and four yards of broad russet, 35 tods of wool, in addition to various horses, oxen, cows and the sheep.
d. Of bran: consisting of large flakes or particles; coarse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > other specific kinds of texture > [adjective] > coarse
greateOE
hardOE
boistous1398
hask?a1425
roidc1485
gross?1504
gruff1533
coarse1582
stoggie1825
broad1908
a1665 K. Digby Closet Opened (1669) 243 Take two pound of the broadest open Bran of the best Wheat, and put it to infuse in a Gallon of Water.
1751 M. Postlethwayt tr. J. Savary des Brûlons Universal Dict. Trade I. 285/1 When the flour comes from the mill, the bran mixed with it ought to be flat and broad.
1884 Bath Herald 27 Dec. 6/5 The offal..is separated into broad bran, medium bran, and sharps.
1908 Animal Managem. (War Office) 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.
2014 @kmartinezinusa 3 Mar. in twitter.com (accessed 21 Apr. 2022) Feeding Goats..grow your own feed! They like eating crushed oats, broad bran, peas, beans.
e. Designating coins that have not been debased by clipping (and are therefore wider than clipped coins of the same kind). Contrasted with clipped (cf. clip v.2 4). Now historical.
Π
1681 Tryals Notorious Malefactors 17–19 Oct. 3 He had at several times put Monies to Goldsmiths in Lumbard-street, the which he called in at short warnings, receiving broad Money for his Clipped.
1696 A. de la Pryme Diary 8 June (1870) 98 He put a broad shill[ing] into one skale and a clip'd one into the other, and seven silver groats to it before he could bring it to the weight of the broad shilling.
1696 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 4 Having received great quantities of broad money from Exeter in order to clip it.
1883 H. Pyle Merry Adventures Robin Hood i. i. 15 The Sheriff..paid him, the messenger, sixpence every Saturday night, of good broad money stamped with the King's head.
2000 M. Gaskill Crime & Mentalities in Early Mod. Eng. (2002) v. 188 People William Stout met as he travelled south in 1693 regarded his broad money with wide-eyed amazement.
f. Designating a smile or grin which spreads openly and unmistakably over the face. Often with connotations of being unrestrained (cf. sense A. 10) or, in early use, forced.In early use often in on the broad grin: see grin n.2 b.
Π
1688 Marquis of Halifax Lady's New-years Gift 106 One who thinketh she must always be in a Laugh, or a broad Smile.
1781 Morning Herald & Daily Advertizer 5 Dec. That ridicule must be kept clear of the burlesque, of the broad grin, and of the pantomime in words.
1859 E. E. Stuart Let. 8 Feb. in R. Stuart et al. Stuart Lett. (1961) II. 909 Here is Francis just comes in from the P.O. with a broad smile at the thought of old age recieving [sic] Valentines, & hands me two most beautiful ones.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 10/3 It seemed scarcely five minutes before I was awakened by a voice with a broad grin behind it.
1988 Motor Boat & Yachting Oct. 98/4 It gave an exciting ride, slamming and skittering in the chop and returning its crew safely with broad grins on their faces.
2002 Z. Mda Madonna of Excelsior (2005) xxxiv. 251 ‘I am sorry to break up this Kodak moment, ladies, but I have an urgent message for Popi,’ said Johannes Smit, flashing a broad smile.
2.
a. Having great spatial extent, esp. covering a large area; vast, extensive, spacious; = wide adj. 1a(a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [adjective] > of vast extent
broadOE
sideOE
wideOE
largec1230
spaciousa1382
unridea1425
amplea1492
well-spreadc1540
main1548
overreaching1579
widespread1582
spacious1587
wide-spreading1587
scopeful1598
vasty1598
scopious1599
vast1600
worldwide1602
spaceful1621
dimensious1632
voluminousa1661
extensive1706
sheety1748
sweeping1772
extended1779
expansive1806
wide-spreaded1820
heaven-wide1835
spanless1847
rangy1898
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [adjective] > having great breadth or width
broadOE
wideOE
largec1300
straight?a1366
spacious1506
basin-wide1591
late1597
broad-backed1651
OE Cynewulf Elene 916 Is his rice brad ofer middongeard.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2537 In ænne bradne feld [c1300 Otho in-to one brode felde].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 5102 He has me made..lauerd of all his landes brade.
c1650 (c1515) Sc. Field (Percy) 146 in J. W. Hales & F. J. Furnivall Bp. Percy's Folio MS (1867) I. 219 Then he bowneth him boldlye ouer the broad waters, & manlye him Marcheth to the Mill feelde.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 339 In ample space under the broadest shade. View more context for this quotation
1727 W. Harte Poems 236 The broad expanse of heav'n Their canopy.
1796 A. Wilson Rab & Ringan 3 As tho' braid Scotland had been a' his ain.
1843 C. J. Lever Jack Hinton (1878) vii. 47 The broad and swelling lands, that stretched away..far as the eye could reach.
1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 49 Comparatively shallow floods running over a broad area.
2022 Spalding Guardian (Nexis) 9 June If you have a big patio and a broad expanse of paving, clusters of small pots won't make much impact.
b. As an epithet of world. Also in whole broad world.Always less common than wide world and whole wide world (see wide adj. 1a(b)).
Π
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8530 Oueral þis werld brade.
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 418 (MED) Men myȝte..lyve to gidere in þe brood world as cristen briþeren.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Bviii The hole brode worlde.
1679 Disc. Repugnancy of Sin 168 He must seek his pleasure in the broad World.
1774 E. Long Hist. Jamaica I. i. x. 130 But, to him who has nothing to lose, all parts of the broad world are alike.
1871 G. Carrington Colonial Adventures & Experiences xxi. 253 People, who wander off, or are left alone, in the great broad world.
1941 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) 25 Aug. 2/1 In fighting for ourselves we are fighting for Europe, for the United States, for the whole broad world.
2013 P. Farmer & J. Weigel To repair World 88 Everywhere I go in the broad world, I find that Miami means something.
†c. Of a period of time: long. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > long-lasting or enduring
longeOE
longsomeeOE
long of lifeOE
lastinga1225
cleaving1340
continualc1340
dwellingc1380
long-livinga1382
everlastingc1384
long-duringa1387
long-lasting?a1400
long-liveda1400
broadc1400
permanable?c1422
perseverant?a1425
permanentc1425
perdurable?a1439
continuedc1440
abiding1448
unremoved1455
eternalc1460
long-continued1464
continuing1526
long-enduring1527
enduring1532
immortal1538
diuturn?1541
veterated1547
resiant?1567
stayinga1568
well-wearinga1568
substantive1575
pertinacious1578
extant1581
ceaseless1590
marble1596
of length1597
longeval1598
diuturnal1599
nine-lived1600
chronic1601
unexhausted1602
chronical1604
endurable1607
continuant1610
indeflourishing1610
aged1611
indurant1611
continuatea1616
perennious1628
seculara1631
undiscontinueda1631
continuated1632
untransitory1632
long-spun1633
momently1641
stative1643
outliving1645
constant1653
long-descended1660
voluminousa1661
perduring1664
perdurant1671
livelong1673
perennial1676
longeve1678
consequential1681
unquenched1703
lifelong1746
momentary1755
inveterate1780
stabile1797
persistent1826
unpassing1831
all-time1846
year-long1846
teak-built1847
lengthful1855
long-term1867
long haul1873
sticky1879
week-to-week1879
perenduring1883
long-range1885
longish1889
long-time1902
long run1904
long-life1915
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1977) l. 659 Fro mony a brod day byfore ho barayn ay had bene.
1867 Amer. Art Jrnl. 23 Mar. 338/1 You have wrought here a work, Pausias, which will live through many broad years to come.
1902 Daily Tel. 24 Jan. 9/1 On Monday next Kaiser Wilhelm celebrates his forty-third birthday. The broad years of a singularly vivid, gifted, and memorable reign behind him make it difficult to realise that he is but entering upon his prime.
3. Affecting, found in, or spread out over a large area or region; widespread. Cf. wide adj. 2.In later use merging into sense A. 11b.
Π
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xvi. 452 Þeah he n[u þæs] fægnige þæt hi his naman bræden, ne [bið] he no þy hræðor swa brad [swa] hi tihhað.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 13746 Heo weoren to kene..and to swiðe fuhten..and spradden to wide ȝeond þat feht brade.
c1450 (?a1400) Sege Melayne (1880) l. 1270 Thay..beris abake the Batells brade [rhyme slade].
1676 A. Sammes Britannia Antiqua Illustrata 198 By this means the Britains prevented any broad destruction of their Towns and Villages.
1886 Mag. Western Hist. Nov. 135/2 He was destined to..win a broad success and liberal reward of wealth.
1986 G. Strauss Law, Resistance, & State iv. 127 Only a time of broad uproar could generate such truly radical departures.
†4.
a. Great in amount or number; abundant, ample, plentiful. Obsolete.Quot. OE1 could alternatively be interpreted as referring to the form of the gold in the treasure, if the implied contrast is with gold shaped into rings.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > [adjective] > having good, natural, or material resources > having plentiful resources or abundance
fatOE
broadOE
plentyc1425
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > abundance > [adjective]
goodeOE
broadOE
fullOE
large?c1225
rifec1225
fulsomea1325
abundanta1382
plenteousa1382
copiousc1384
plentifula1400
ranka1400
aboundc1425
affluentc1425
aboundable?1440
seedy1440
manyfulc1450
ample1472
olda1500
richa1500
flowing1526
fertilent1535
wallingc1540
copy1546
abounding1560
fat1563
numbrous1566
good, great store1569
round1592
redundant1594
fruitful1604
cornucopian1609
much1609
plenty?a1610
pukka1619
redundant1621
uberant1622
swelling1628
uberous1633
numerousa1635
superfluent1648
full tide1649
lucky1649
redounding1667
numerose1692
bumper1836
prolific1890
proliferous1915
OE Beowulf (2008) 3105 Ic eow wisige, þæt ge genoge neon sceawiað beagas ond brad gold.
OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xxii. 6 Þu gegearwodest beforan me swiðe bradne beod, wið þara willan, þe me hatedon.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 81 Wið brad scheome & sunne.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 3087 Her blis was ful brade.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1977) l. 584 Hit is a brod wonder.
b. Full of something. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > abundance > [adjective] > abounding in or having abundance
fulleOE
ranka1250
broada1300
rifec1325
copiousa1387
wealthful ofa1400
plaina1450
heavy-ladenc1450
fluenta1592
onust1604
heavy1622
onusted1657
opulent1685
aflooda1729
rowtha1774
acrawl1830
lousy1843
awash1912
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 177 Of folk þe feld was brade.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 24744 Sua brad of hir blis es þe wai.
5. In extended use, characterizing various physical states or qualities as open or full.
a. Opened widely or to the full extent; expanded. After early Middle English apparently only of the eyes. Now archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [adjective] > movements of eye > wide open
broad971
OE Blickling Homilies 23 Hie hine swungon..& mid bradre hand slogan, & mid heora fystum beotan.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 15108 He..bisæh uppen Brien mid braden his lechen.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 17837 Til heuen þai lifted þair eien brade.
a1450 in Neuphilol. Mitteilungen (1948) 49 169 (MED) Þou has brade eghen and may noght see.
1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) sig. D.iv They haue..broad eyes and lyght fingers, ready to espy and apte to strike.
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster Famous Hist. Thomas Wyat sig. A2 Wee stand high in mans opinion, And the worldes broad eye.
1716 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. viii. 66 Thence his broad Eye..surveys, The Town, the Tents, and navigable Seas.
1814 R. Southey Roderick xvi. 240 A life-long night Seel'd his broad eye.
1938 Epigraphia Indica (Delhi) 22 63 With his face representing the moon, with his eyes broad like the petals of lotuses.
b. Designating the full light of day or the part of the day when it is fully light. Now usually in in broad daylight: during daylight hours; (hence) in full view of any onlookers (typically used when the action described is surprising given the conditions).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [adjective] > broad daylight
clearc1320
broad1393
daylighty1860
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 3164 Fulofte whanne it is brod day.
a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) l. 4238 (MED) On þe morwe, at brode day liȝt, The fadir roose.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 201/2 Broode daye, grant jour.
1579 W. Fulke Refut. Rastels Confut. in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 722 We do not light wax candels in ye brod day light.
1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety viii. 232 It [is] no longer seeking the shelter of night and darkness, but..appears in the broadest light.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. ii. 3 It will be no Excuse to an idle and untoward Servant, who would not attend his Business by Candle-light, to plead that he had not broad Sun-shine.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. iv. iii. 211 A solitary Walk before it was broad Day-light.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound ii. ii. 73 Awake thro' all the broad noon-day.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 149 It cannot be concealed..it will all out to the broad day.
1879 J. N. Lockyer Elem. Lessons Astron. (new ed.) iii. xxiv. 125 The comet of 1843..was visible in broad daylight.
1892 R. L. Stevenson Across Plains vi. 204 It was still broad day in our subarctic latitude [sc. in Caithness].
1934 L. Charteris Boodle viii. 178 In broad daylight, there was no chance of further concealment.
2007 Independent 14 Aug. (Extra section) 7/6 They have been responsible for dozens of murders, many in broad daylight with no regard for public safety.
c. Of the air: diffused everywhere; open, unconfined. Cf. open air n. 1. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > spreading or diffusion > [adjective] > spread or diffused > widely
wideOE
rampanta1540
widespread1582
cheverel1583
worldwide1602
broada1616
ubiquitary1652
wide-spreading1655
broadcast1785
country-wide1845
statewide1848
nationwide1891
planetwide1920
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest iii. f. 67v One while they keepe in the brode ayre: another while in the water, and earth as the Crocodile.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iii. iv. 22 As broad, and generall, as the casing Ayre. View more context for this quotation
1757 Sedan I. vii. 44 It might have vanished into the broad air.
1830 W. Ball Creation iv. 187 Th' unburied dead Taint the broad air.
1951 E. Powell Dancer's End in T. Nairn Break-up of Brit. (2003) vi. 247 I imagined they were ghosts Of the old English, who by tower and spire,..filled the broad air with their company.
d. Of sound, esp. of a voice or musical instrument: full and deep; (in early use) spec. low in pitch. Cf. thin adj. 3d.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > thing heard > [adjective] > pitch > low in pitch
bassa1450
heavy1589
broad1607
grave1609
deepa1616
gravitoned1657
low-pitched1811
deep-drawn1860
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 330 The females haue a shrill and sharper voice then the males, which is fuller, and broader.
1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Cymon & Iphigenia in Fables 546 His broad barbarian Sound.
1794 W. Godwin Things as They Are I. viii. 162 His lips were thick, and the tone of his voice broad and unmodulated.
1944 W. Apel Harvard Dict. Music 527/1 The open Flutes, such as the Melodia, Claribel Flute, and Concert Flute..are characterized by a broad mellow flute tone.
2012 New Yorker 27 Aug. 35/3 The broad, velvety sound, sustained with uniformly wide vibrato, that many listeners in the age of Itzhak Perlman have come to think is how a violin should sound.
6. Characterized by breadth of feeling, sympathy, or understanding; (also) characterized by liberal-mindedness; tolerant, unprejudiced. Cf. broad-minded adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > absence of prejudice > [adjective]
unpossesseda1586
affectionless1595
respectless1598
unprejudicating1602
spacious1609
unprejudicate1609
unprejudicated1609
undifferencing?1624
unprepossessed1629
imprejudicate1640
unprejudiced1641
unprejudicial1641
unpreoccupated1641
unsuperstitious1652
moderate1654
unforestalled1657
unengaged1659
equipondious1661
uncaptivated1678
unbiased1686
unbigoted1711
Whiggish1715
open-minded1748
progressive1780
liberal1781
prejudiceless1830
broad1832
great-eyed1850
synoptic1852
undogmatic1857
undogmatical1863
superstitionless1879
race-blind1900
personless1932
verlig1968
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > high intelligence, genius > [adjective] > of mind, operations: broad, deep, strong
stronga1393
profounda1450
reachinga1500
ingenious1509
spacious1609
vast1610
vigorous1640
rugged1678
wide1717
broad1832
oceanica1834
in depth1959
1807 T. White in F. W. Blagdon Flowers of Lit. for 1806 436 Scope uncontroul'd, by laws of God and man, Shews the broad mind and genuine wisdom's plan.
1832 L. Hunt Poems 226 With his broad heart to win his way to heaven.
1886 J. Morley Crit. Misc. I. 78 Even good opinions are worth very little unless we hold them in a broad, intelligent and spacious way.
1991 D. Lucie Fashion (rev. ed.) i. iii, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business 24 I like to think my mind was broad enough to change.
2003 D. G. Merzel Path of Human Being (2005) xii. 71 We've all learned how beneficial it can be to have a broad and open mind.
II. Plain, direct, not subtle, and related senses.
7.
a. Of words, speech, etc.: direct, blunt, or unreserved in expressing the speaker's opinion or feelings. Frequently somewhat depreciative, with the implication of a lack of civility or delicacy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > sincerity, freedom from deceit > [adjective] > frank, candid
free-hearteda1398
plain-dealing1567
plain-spoken1582
broad1588
free-spoken1606
free1611
unminced1648
unreserved1654
candid1675
above boarda1695
unmanaged1749
unprevaricating?1782
plain-speaking1787
loud-mouthing1788
bluff1808
outspoken1808
unglossing1827
straightforward1829
unwithholdinga1834
open-spoken1852
heart-to-heart1855
blunt-spoken1877
straight1894
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > plainness > [adjective]
nakedOE
simplea1382
meanc1450
rural1488
misorned1512
inornate?1518
barec1540
broad1588
bald1589
kersey1598
russet1598
unvarnisheda1616
unembellished1630
illaborate1631
severe1665
renable1674
small1678
unadorned1692
inelaborate1747
unlarded1748
chaste1753
uncoloured1845
minimalist1929
spare1965
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 3508 (MED) Thow karpes so kyndly, it comforthes myn herte..For þou arte Bretowne bierne, as by thy brode speche.
c1450 (?a1370) Wynnere & Wastoure (1990) l. 457 Blynnes, beryns, of ȝour brethe and of ȝoure brode worde.
1573 G. Gascoigne Hundreth Sundrie Flowres sig. Eev I name no man, for that were brode before.
1588 Ld. Burghley Copie Let. to B. Mendoza 32 I..haue bene very often ashamed to heare so brode speeches, of the King, and of the Pope.
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads i. 224 His wrath, that this broad language gave.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 208. ⁋3 A fulsom Way of commending you in broad terms.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. vii. 434 The broadest and most repulsive declaration of all the Calvinistic tenets.
1870 R. C. Jebb Sophocles' Electra (ed. 2) 36/1 She now repeats the avowal in broader terms.
2021 R. N. Juliani Philadelphia's Germans v. 116 His broad denunciation of those who had endorsed Ashbridge and remained beholden to his party.
b. depreciative. Of language, speech, etc.: (originally) characteristic or typical of common or uneducated people; unrefined, lower-class; (from the late 16th cent.) spec. somewhat coarse, indecent, or rude.Although the spec. sense is dominant from the 17th cent., later examples sometimes also retain more general connotations of being uncultured or not suitable for polite society. In later use the spec. sense also often overlaps with sense A. 10.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > low in style
broad1490
low1518
bawdy1519
comical?1565
foot1582
tavernly1612
mean1659
gruff1681
vulgar1716
terra a terra1728
pedestrian1805
unraised1817
terre-à-terre1888
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > moral or spiritual impurity > indecency > [adjective]
unhonest13..
inhonest1340
undecent1563
broad1579
nasty1601
indecent1613
paw1668
paw-paw1723
improper1739
unproper1797
fie-fie1812
warm1814
blue1818
indecorous1829
off-colour1875
sultry1887
suggestive1888
scorching1890
juicy1923
gamey1945
1490 W. Caxton in tr. Boke yf Eneydos Prol. sig. Ajv I..toke an olde boke and..the englysshe was so rude and brood that I coude not wele vnderstande it.
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 51 To sporte one with another, without any broade speaches, or vncomely Iestes.
1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall sig. C2 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.
1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. l. sig. I6v Onely with broad and obscœne wit.
1650 Arraignm. & Tryall Ranters 2 The shoo-maker replied to this effect (yet in broader language) that the Devil was nothing but the backside of God.
a1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Art of Love in Orig. Poems & Transl. (1743) II. 150 Broad [1709 Bug] Words will make her Innocence afraid.
1715 D. Ryder Diary 2 July (1939) (modernized text) 46 The mther seemed to be a woman of good sense but talks very broad English.
a1825 A. L. Barbauld Let. in W. McCarthy & E. Kraft A. L. Barbauld: Sel. Poetry & Prose (2002) 460 It is utterly impossible to suppose the Writers so void of common sense as to imagine that Miss Edgeworth recommends going to Brothels (to use their broad language), in order to cure people of vicious habits.
1882 H. D. Traill Sterne 15 A collection of comic but extremely broad ballads.
1974 S. Middleton Holiday xi. 180 Hollies dropped no sexual hint; the broad tongue of the dining room he'd discarded for a politer approach.
1997 C. Shields Larry's Party vii. 136 He liked his jokes broad and raw and was always ready with a variation.
8. Easily perceived or understood; plain, clear, patent. Now usually of a hint: not subtle; unambiguous.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > manifestness > [adjective]
sutelc897
openeOE
ebera975
graithc1325
broadc1374
plainc1375
clearc1380
grossc1380
manifest1385
notoire1409
patent1508
sensible?1531
discovered1537
plain as a pikestaff (also packstaff, pad-staff)1542
palpable1545
demonstrative1552
plain as the nose on (in) one's face1560
illustrate1562
appearing1566
notorious1581
obvious1583
unshadowed1593
transparent1597
liquid1610
visible1614
pellucid1644
illustrious1654
apertive1661
conspectable1727
suggestive1806
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 223 It wald..gar me mony falt ourse That now is brayd befoir myn e.
1681 in Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Scotl. 1910–11 (1911) 45 238 Now they had their life with the broad curse of God on it.
1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 184 Surely this is a hint broad enough.
1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation Introd. §1. 8 Mary, Queen of Scotland, and the Dauphin..gave broad signs of their pretences to the Crown of England.
1752 H. Fielding Amelia II. viii. i. 112 Booth presently took this Hint, indeed it was a pretty broad one.
1825 W. Scott Talisman xiv, in Tales Crusaders IV. 307 He understands or guesses thy meaning—be not so broad, I pray thee.
1874 J. H. Parker Introd. Study Gothic Archit. (ed. 4) v. 161 There is no broad line of distinction.
1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 May 319/3 A wise step, and which offers a broad enough hint to lay reviewers.
2004 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 9 Oct. d5 His old station has been closed and Rebus transferred to Gayfield Square, where, in a hint so broad only a man as stubborn as Rebus could ignore it, he hasn't been given a desk.
9.
a. Designating regional or speech pronunciation characterized by the use of long, open vowels; (now more generally) designating a very noticeable or strong regional accent. Also of a vowel: pronounced with a relatively wide opening of the mouth and the tongue held low in it; = open adj. 13a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > accent > [adjective] > of particular accents
broad?1533
plum-in-the-mouth1553
strong1735
educated1838
Kensingtonian1902
Morningside1953
cut glass1962
lock-jawed1974
1574 A. Golding in J. Baret Aluearie To Rdr. sig. **.1 The diffrence..Of brode North speech and Sowthren smoothednesse.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. iv. 569 For in the Dorick dialect..broad pronunciation, is most taken notice of.
1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 250 A broad North Country Tone.
1844 Proc. Philol. Soc. 1 283 The Greek substituted a long and broad vowel for the short and narrow vowel of the nominative.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 320 His oaths..were uttered with the broadest accent of his province.
1877 H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 18 In the broad London pronunciation this lengthening of originally short vowels is extremely common.
1966 M. Hunter Ghosts of Glencoe (1994) i. 19 His speech had the broad vowels and strong rolling r's of the Lowland Scot.
2005 M. Lewycka Short Hist. Tractors in Ukrainian xv. 162 Her voice sounds young and chirpy, with a broad fenland accent.
b. Modifying the name of a regional variety of English, indicating speech which is strongly regionally accented or contains many regionally distinctive grammatical and lexical features. Originally esp. in Broad Scotch, Broad Scots, often specifically denoting the vernacular of the Scottish Lowlands.
Π
1655 T. Culpeper Morall Disc. & Essayes xiii. 103 Others will not endure to be courted in broad Scotch, nor scarce in good old British, Yet they cannot resist the Charms of Italian.
1714 Boston News-let. 28 Dec. 2/2 [He] speaks very broad West Country.
1757 D. Hume Let. 2 July (1932) I. 254 Dr. Roebuck, who had scarce understood his rustic English, or rather his broad Scotch, immediatly [sic] comprehended him, for his Greek was admirable.
1787 R. Burns Poems (new ed.) 78 In plain braid Scots hold forth a plain braid story.
1859 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 255/2 Broad Yorkshire talked all over the ship.
1967 M. Home Winter Harvest vii. 88 He spoke the broadest Norfolk I've ever heard.
2020 National (Scotl.) (Nexis) 26 Apr. Ye kent fan tae spik proper, an fan tae spik broad Scotch.
10. Of actions: done without restraint, limitation, or subtlety; (now usually) spec. designating comedy which is energetically performed, but lacks sophistication.In later use in the spec. sense sometimes overlapping with sense A. 7b.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > freedom of action or from restraint > [adjective]
freeeOE
unneedc1175
easyc1200
untiedc1374
unhemmeda1400
largec1400
unrefraineda1500
rampanta1540
unmuzzleda1541
unyoked1573
yokeless1584
licensed1593
unbound1593
wild1599
broad1604
fetterless1604
unconfined1607
ungyved1607
ungaged?1617
unboundeda1625
unfettereda1631
vagabond1635
unmanacled1686
unrestricted1750
haggard-wild1786
unconstrained1796
unshackled1796
chainless1816
rioty1819
untethered1826
unwithholdena1834
bondless1845
fancy-loose1850
constraintless1865
unpressured1879
undammed1896
balls-to-the-wall1967
balls-out1968
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iv. 2 His prancks haue beene too braod [sic] to beare with. View more context for this quotation
1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 127 Kenny possesses some requisites for broad farce.
1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 207 She was the picture of broad, honest, vulgar enjoyment.
1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues I. 175 The mirth is broader, the irony more sustained.
?1975 K. Tynan Let. Mar. (1994) vii. 555 There was a lot of pressure on us to opt for broad comedy in order to gain audience acceptance.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 30 Mar. 113/3 The film is full of broad humor—Posey dancing in a 70-pound fat suit, and the camp-loving Dazzle Dancers shimmying to Animotion's ‘Obession’.
III. General, not detailed, and related senses.
11.
a. Covering or including a large number and wide range of subjects, possibilities, or kinds of things; widely applicable; inclusively or generally defined.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > condition or state of being inclusive > [adjective] > inclusive or comprehensive
largea1400
wide1534
capable1592
inclusive1604
comprehensive1614
all-comprehensive1650
complexive1654
diffused1658
comprehensional1673
perileptic1678
all-encompassing1805
unexcluding1822
widish1845
all-embracing1847
unexclusive1852
all-inclusive1858
broad1872
embracive1897
periscopic1912
wide-angle1932
umbrella1949
1618 G. Chapman in tr. Hesiod Georgicks Ep. Ded. sig. A2v Or if the allusion (or petition of the Principle) begge with too broad a Licence in the Generall.
1678 T. Rymer Trag. Last Age 134 The Brother should have been left to guess and paraphrase the broad meaning.
1779 Literary Fly 27 Mar. 62 The broad principle, on which stands this catholic syllogism, runs through every thing in life.
1875 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life (ed. 2) x. v. 387 A broad rule..applicable to all imaginable cases.
1918 Philos. Rev. 27 31 We have only to use words in the broader way..when we want to gain the suffrage of common sense.
1934 Times of India 19 Nov. 8/4 European wage-earners in India fall into two broad categories.
1967 Jrnl. Pediatrics 70 769/1 Although blood levels of factor VIII of some female carriers are intermediate or low, many are well within the broad range of normal.
2018 M. Moore Fabulous ii. 86 Queer street fashion is about exposure in the broadest sense.
b. Including, composed of, or supported by many people of diverse kinds. Typically with reference to support from across the spectrum of political opinions or beliefs.In early use usually modifying bottom: see bottom n. 23b, and cf. broad-bottom adj., broad-bottomed adj. 2.
Π
1639 W. Laud Relation Conf. Lawd & Fisher 206 Gregory the seventh had set the Popedome upon a broad bottome before this Innocents time.
1742 H. Walpole Let. 18 Feb. in Corr. (1954) XVII. 336 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.
1806 J. W. Croker Amazoniad 52 So, when contending parties vex a nation, Sits firmly fix'd some broad administration.
1810 W. Wilberforce Diary 16 June in R. I. Wilberforce & S. Wilberforce Life W. Wilberforce (1838) III. 448 Proposition made to him for being the key-stone to form a broad administration, combining both Castlereagh and Canning.
1925 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 19 351 The general feeling was that a government based on a broad coalition comprising a clear majority of the State Assembly could best give expression to the feeling of national unity which swept the country.
1968 Sunday Tel. 21 Apr. 13/6 He has failed in critical moments to bring the country along with him, to establish that broad base of support that is necessary for achievement.
2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 Mar. a2/4 Lobbyists did a double take when they saw the bill lacked a provision that had broad support in earlier drafts.
12. Art. Characterized by artistic breadth (breadth n. 5); executed with a view to general effect rather than to special details. Cf. sense A. 13a.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [adjective] > types of artistic treatment or style
antica1536
Moresque1611
barbaric1667
massive1723
popular1730
maniéré1743
regency1811
tedesco1814
massy1817
Barbaresque1831
sensualistic1838
broad1849
conventional1851
expressional1856
tight1891
stylized1898
distressed1940
pop1956
transgressive1969
1785 J. Strutt Biogr. Dict. Engravers I. 116 The lights and shadows in them are broad and powerful, which renders the effect very striking.
1808 Monthly Rev. 55 App. 453 General phrases, which..are too liable to confound in one broad colour those neighbouring shades, which, though extremely similar, are essentially distinct.
1849 G. Grote Hist. Greece VI. ii. liv. 657 A portrait of him drawn in colours broad and glaring.
1879 G. A. Sala in Daily Tel. 8 May Two broad, powerful, and vividly expressed portraits.
1885 Athenæum 30 May 702/3 Broad and rich in tone and colour.
1912 A. A. T. Craig Dramatic Festival ii. 29 The delightful chance at broad colour work that the final scene-painting squad has.
2014 New Yorker 15 Sept. 62/1 I paint the way I see it, and some of the colors are a little broader, and a little bolder than others.
13.
a. Considering or including the main features or elements of something, but disregarding minor details or exceptions; general.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adjective] > not specified > general or not detailed
universal?c1425
gross1433
summary1529
general1538
generalized1768
broad1860
slumpy1864
light-touch1949
1795 Northern Star (Belfast) 5 Nov. The debates in the British Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday last, are by no means interesting to our readers: they relate chiefly to the best means of preventing a famine in England; but there has not been adopted as yet any broad outline that looks like embracing the amount of the evil.
1869 T. H. Huxley in Sci. Opinion 28 Apr. 486/2 A knowledge of [the] broad outlines [of a subject].
1885 Manch. Examiner 6 May 5/1 The broad features of the accident.
1936 J. S. Joffe Pedology vi. 134 The classification of the soil-forming processes, in their broad aspects, should hinge on the elements of climate.
1977 Times 7 Sept. 4/7 The Government accepted the broad thrust of policies in the document.
2015 New Yorker 1 June 55/3 I began to learn first the broad outlines and then the minutiae of the local racial setup.
b. Phonetics. Designating a type of phonetic transcription in which separate symbols are used only to represent distinct phonemes, and more detailed phonetic differences are ignored. Opposed to narrow.Broad transcriptions give an idealized description of the phonetic system of a whole speech community and are commonly used in both general and pronouncing dictionaries.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > [adjective] > representing spoken sounds > type of transcription
broad1877
narrow1877
Romic1877
analphabetic1889
antalphabetic1933
impressionistic1939
1877 H. 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 H. Sweet Sounds of Eng. 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.
1932 D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics (ed. 3) x. 305 The transcription used in this book is not the broadest possible.
2002 J. R. Taylor Cognitive Gram. viii. 151 An utterance can be represented by a (broad) phonemic transcription, consisting of a sequence of phonemes, and by a narrow phonetic transcription, consisting of a sequence of allophones, such that each allophone stands in a one-to-one relation to the phoneme of which it is an instance.
B. n.1
†1. A wide area or expanse. After Old English only in on broad: (see abroad adv.). Obsolete.In quot. OE perhaps specifically of the expanse of the sea (compare broad sea n. at Compounds 3). (The interpretation of this line of verse is difficult.)
Π
OE Riming Poem 13 Scrifen scrad glad þurh gescad in brad.
†2. Width; breadth. Obsolete.Often as the second element in compounds indicating a distance equal to the breadth of something specified in the first element (cf. breadth n. 1b): see quot. 1535, and compare β forms at handbreed n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [noun]
bredeeOE
widenessOE
wideOE
latitude1398
broada1400
broadnessa1425
largeness?a1425
breadth1459
width1570
largitude1590
cross1630
c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) l. 537 A fairer child neuer i ne siȝ, Neiþer a lingþe ne on brade.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 347 Þis werld..Seit for to be on lang and brad.
a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1907) I. 47 All tho feldys, Croftes and medows, þat lyne from the said Croft and barn of John Michels vnto Whitley in lenght, and in brod fro the..hie way þat ledithe to London vnto þe watur of Schyrburn.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xxxv. D Whan he was yet a felde brode from Ephrath.
3. A piece or example of broadcloth. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > of specific size > broadcloth
broadclotha1420
broadc1503
Melton1858
1450 Wardens' Acct. Bk. in L. Jefferson Medieval Acct. Bks. Mercers London (2008) II. 680 Also, of clothes called brodys of West Contre makyng.
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. xxvv/2 Clothes called fyn brodes of the makyng of Essex.
1621 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 352 Katteries and Tags which they wee calle weavers there worke one broads and the other one narrows.
1782 E. Clegg Let. 24 Apr. in B. Franklin Papers (2003) XXXVII. 209 We can Perform the silk Manufactory thro' both in Plain & Figured Goods both broads and Narrow.
1882 Official Rec. Melbourne Internat. Exhib. 588/2 Superfine broads and narrows, fancy coatings and trouserings.
2010 Econ. Hist. Rev. 63 749 The firm exported broads and narrows purchased in the Leeds and Huddersfield cloth halls and finished at Bradley Mills.
4.
a. With of. The broadest part of something, esp. a part of the body; the flat or broad surface of something, esp. a person's back. Cf. flat n.3 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > specific areas or structures > [noun] > broad part
broad1741
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [noun] > great extent across > broad part of something
broad1741
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 208 Sir Borce..bare hym thorow the brode shylde and the brode of his breste.
1605 A. Willet tr. Bible (Plantin Polyglot) Gen. xxxii. 25 in Hexapla in Genesin ii. xxxii. 330 The broad of his thigh [L. latitudimen femoris] withered.
1770 H. Brooke Fool of Quality V. 15 Harry, giving him a flight foot, laid him on the broad of his back in the middle of his own floor.
1858 Punch 25 Sept. 126/1 On the broad of my back floating free, floating free!
1908 A. D. Rees William Tell i. 23 (stage direct.) Hits Franz violently with the broad of his sword.
1999 D. Morrissey Kit's Law v. 51 Nan slouzed the cloth across her face and down the broad of her back and beyond, scrubbing with the same vigour she used on dirty socks.
b. Originally Scottish. The upper surface (dorsum or instep) of the foot. Now rare.The semantic motivation of this sense is unclear.
ΘΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > foot > [noun] > instep
wrist?1515
instep1530
1726 A. Monro Anat. Humane Bones ii. 323 The several Surfaces [of the Foot] shall be named, according to the natural Situation, viz. the Broad of the Foot superior, the Sole inferior.
1775 J. Aitken Ess. & Cases Surg. 149 For greater security still, he had a piece of steel, which reached from the broad of the foot to the fore part of the leg.
1783 Session Papers in Sc. National Dict. (1974) IX. at Tramp [Nairn] Donald M'Intosh tramped on the broad of her foot, which was bare.
1926 San Francisco Daily News 26 July 12/2 The broad of the foot should oppose the water in the last movement.
1953 A. Coates Invitation Eastern Feast ii. 57 A thin band of suède leather across the broad of the foot connecting with a smaller band attached to the sole between first and second toes.
5. In East Anglia: a large extent of fresh water; a freshwater lake. Now usually in plural, with the and capital initial, with reference to the network of lakes and rivers in the area, typically as a conservation or holiday area. Also in the Norfolk Broads, the Suffolk Broads.The Broads were traditionally thought to have formed naturally, but are now known to be flooded medieval peat excavations: see J. M. Lambert et al. Making of the Broads (1960).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > lake > [noun]
mereeOE
laya1000
lakec1275
poolc1275
watera1325
loughc1330
loch1427
broad1659
Mediterranean1661
Mediterrane1694
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > system > [noun] > broad part
broad1659
1659 Sir T. Browne Let. 16 Nov. in Wks. (1931) VI. 351 Such deluges..might..settle lakes & broades.
1787 W. Marshall Provincialisms in Rural Econ. Norfolk II. 376 Broads, fresh-water lakes (that is, broad waters; in distinction to narrow waters, or rivers).
1844 E. Jesse Scenes Country Life I. 82 The graceful bendings of the stream, sometimes opening into shallow broads.
1845 R. Lubbock Observ. Fauna of Norfolk 199 The Roud, as it is here always pronounced, is very plentiful on the broads, and also far from uncommon in the rivers.
1883 Academy 8 Dec. 377/1 The artistic aspect of the Broad district.
1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. i. 121 Some of the broads, such as Hickling Broad, are lateral lakes in very shallow valleys.
2015 B. le Vay Brit. from Rails (ed. 2) vi. 188 Wroxham Broad, a couple of miles downriver, is dubbed ‘The Queen of the Broads’ for its beauty.
6. A nickname for: a hammered gold coin still in circulation in England after the introduction of milled gold coinage in 1663, esp. a unite (see unite n. 1 for further details). Cf. earlier broad piece n. Now historical.The name arose because the older, hammered coins were larger in diameter and thinner than the new coins. See also broad gold n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > guinea or twenty-one shillings
goldfinch1602
piece1631
yellow boy1654
Guinea1666
broad gold1688
meg1688
broad1710
George's guinea1721
yellow1722
canary bird1785
stranger1785
yellow George1785
Geordie1786
spade-guinea1853
George guinea1880
1682 A. Radcliffe Ramble 25 The Bullies left me for a Pawn; But I made my party good, To Fifteen Guinneys and a Broad.
1710 London Gaz. No. 4672/4 A..Purse, with 30 Guineas and 5 Brodes in it.
1763 T. Snelling View Gold Coin Eng. 28 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.
1919 Brit. Numismatic Jrnl. 1917 122 These pieces and the half-broads are far more rare than the unites and broads.
2002 S. D. Smith Exact & Industrious Tradesman 555 ‘Broads’ were so-called because they were larger and thinner coins than guineas.
7. slang. A playing card. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card or cards > [noun]
card1463
playing card1480
carte1497
bookc1575
charta1680
broad1789
flat1819
pasteboard1840
paper1842
painted mischief1879
boards1923
1753 Discov. J. Poulter (ed. 2) 6 We..won between thirty and forty Pounds at Cards, alias Broads.
1789 G. Parker Life's Painter xv. 142 Who are continually looking out for flats, in order to do them upon the broads, that is cards.
1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood III. iv. ii. 247 A nick the broads.
1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xx. 219 They..were also playing the Broads on the trains.
2000 S. O'Nan Circus Fire 45 There were no sharps playing the nuts (the old shell game) or tossing the broads (three-card monte).
†8. Turning. A cutting tool formed from a broad bar of steel having one end turned up and sharpened, used to level flat surfaces such as those of large platters; (also) a steel plate with straight sharpened edges, which is set perpendicular to a handle and used for similar purposes. Obsolete.Intended for use in place of a chisel for this kind of work.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine tool > [noun] > specific tools
hook1680
rough grinder1777
side tool1804
bottom tool1819
broad1846
sweep1847
wobbler1875
knurl1879
cam-cuttera1884
fly-cutter1884
1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. 515 The broad..requires to be held downwards or underhand.
1870 J. Lukin Amateur Mechanic's Workshop 128 We have referred to a tool called a broad for levelling the flat surface of lathe work, such as large platters, and similar pieces, which are not easy to finish with the chisel and gouge.
1881 Builder & Wood-worker May 91/2 My wood turning outfit consists of face plate, with screw holes for disk turning; screw chuck, prong chuck, cup chuck..two cutting off tools and one three inch broad for smoothing down plane surfaces, and calipers inside and outside.
9. slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). A woman. Now dated.
a. In general use.Now likely to be considered offensive.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun]
wifeeOE
womaneOE
womanOE
queanOE
brideOE
viragoc1000
to wifeOE
burdc1225
ladyc1225
carlinec1375
stotc1386
marec1387
pigsneyc1390
fellowa1393
piecec1400
femalea1425
goddessa1450
fairc1450
womankindc1450
fellowessa1500
femininea1513
tega1529
sister?1532
minikinc1540
wyec1540
placket1547
pig's eye1553
hen?1555
ware1558
pussy?a1560
jade1560
feme1566
gentlewoman1567
mort1567
pinnacea1568
jug1569
rowen1575
tarleather1575
mumps1576
skirt1578
piga1586
rib?1590
puppy1592
smock1592
maness1594
sloy1596
Madonna1602
moll1604
periwinkle1604
Partlet1607
rib of man1609
womanship?1609
modicum1611
Gypsy1612
petticoata1616
runniona1616
birda1627
lucky1629
she-man1640
her1646
lost rib1647
uptails1671
cow1696
tittup1696
cummer17..
wife1702
she-woman1703
person1704
molly1706
fusby1707
goody1708
riding hood1718
birdie1720
faggot1722
piece of goods1727
woman body1771
she-male1776
biddy1785
bitch1785
covess1789
gin1790
pintail1792
buer1807
femme1814
bibi1816
Judy1819
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
wifie1823
craft1829
shickster?1834
heifer1835
mot1837
tit1837
Sitt1838
strap1842
hay-bag1851
bint1855
popsy1855
tart1864
woman's woman1868
to deliver the goods1870
chapess1871
Dona1874
girl1878
ladykind1878
mivvy1881
dudess1883
dudette1883
dudine1883
tid1888
totty1890
tootsy1895
floozy1899
dame1902
jane1906
Tom1906
frail1908
bit of stuff1909
quim1909
babe1911
broad1914
muff1914
manhole1916
number1919
rossie1922
bit1923
man's woman1928
scupper1935
split1935
rye mort1936
totsy1938
leg1939
skinny1941
Richard1950
potato1957
scow1960
wimmin1975
womyn1975
womxn1991
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute
meretrixOE
whoreOE
soiled dovea1250
common womanc1330
putec1384
bordel womanc1405
putaina1425
brothelc1450
harlot?a1475
public womanc1510
naughty pack?1529
draba1533
cat1535
strange woman1535
stew1552
causey-paikera1555
putanie?1566
drivelling1570
twigger1573
punka1575
hackney1579
customer1583
commodity1591
streetwalker1591
traffic1591
trug1591
hackster1592
polecat1593
stale1593
mermaid1595
medlar1597
occupant1598
Paphian1598
Winchester goose1598
pagan1600
hell-moth1602
aunt1604
moll1604
prostitution1605
community1606
miss1606
night-worm1606
bat1607
croshabell1607
prostitute1607
pug1607
venturer1607
nag1608
curtal1611
jumbler1611
land-frigate1611
walk-street1611
doll-common1612
turn-up1612
barber's chaira1616
commonera1616
public commonera1616
trader1615
venturea1616
stewpot1616
tweak1617
carry-knave1623
prostibule1623
fling-dusta1625
mar-taila1625
night-shadea1625
waistcoateera1625
night trader1630
coolera1632
meretrician1631
painted ladya1637
treadle1638
buttock1641
night-walker1648
mob?1650
lady (also girl, etc.) of the game1651
lady of pleasure1652
trugmullion1654
fallen woman1659
girlc1662
high-flyer1663
fireship1665
quaedama1670
small girl1671
visor-mask1672
vizard-mask1672
bulker1673
marmalade-madam1674
town miss1675
town woman1675
lady of the night1677
mawks1677
fling-stink1679
Whetstone whore1684
man-leech1687
nocturnal1693
hack1699
strum1699
fille de joie1705
market-dame1706
screw1725
girl of (the) town1733
Cytherean1751
street girl1764
monnisher1765
lady of easy virtue1766
woman (also lady) of the town1766
kennel-nymph1771
chicken1782
stargazer1785
loose fish1809
receiver general1811
Cyprian1819
mollya1822
dolly-mop1834
hooker1845
charver1846
tail1846
horse-breaker1861
professional1862
flagger1865
cocodette1867
cocotte1867
queen's woman1871
common prostitute1875
joro1884
geisha1887
horizontal1888
flossy1893
moth1896
girl of the pavement1900
pross1902
prossie1902
pusher1902
split-arse mechanic1903
broad1914
shawl1922
bum1923
quiff1923
hustler1924
lady of the evening1924
prostie1926
working girl1928
prostisciutto1930
maggie1932
brass1934
brass nail1934
mud kicker1934
scupper1935
model1936
poule de luxe1937
pro1937
chromo1941
Tom1941
pan-pan1949
twopenny upright1958
scrubber1959
slack1959
yum-yum girl1960
Suzie Wong1962
mattress1964
jamette1965
ho1966
sex worker1971
pavement princess1976
parlour girl1979
crack whore1990
1909 Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 9 Oct. 14/2 They formerly called women by the name the sex implies, But now they're ‘Broilers’, ‘Broads’, and ‘Chicks’, ‘Fillies’ or even ‘Frys’.
1931 E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. xvi. 177 Slummock..had got into a jam with a broad; no ordinary broad, but a Coastguard's broad.
1970 New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/1 Everything about this broad spelled class,..she was the greatest.
2001 ‘E. McBain’ Money, Money, Money (2002) 120 A good-looking broad in her late fifties.
b. With derogatory or depreciative connotations of sexual promiscuity. Sometimes spec.: a prostitute.
Π
1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 19 Broad,..A female confederate; a female companion; a woman of loose morals.
1926 Amer. Legion Monthly July 47/2 I got my eye on a dame, too... She ain't no broad, even if I did meet her in camp.
1957 J. Kerr Please don't eat Daisies 118 I know I'm just a broad, Mike. I'm a round-heeled babe.
1966 J. Mills Panic in Needle Park vi. 49 Some dumb spic broad hustling a guy who's probably too stupid to know she's on junk.
1984 W. Terry Bloods 28 A little Coke girl would show up with Coca-Cola. And also some broads would show.

Phrases

P1. In collocation with long.
a. it's as broad as it's long (also as long as it's broad): it comes to the same thing either way, it makes no difference.
Π
a1679 Earl of Orrery Guzman (1693) v. 50 Content to receive a Thousand Crowns with a Wife, or to be paid a Thousand by one, is as broad as long.
1687 R. L'Estrange Answer to Let. to Dissenter 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.
1775 G. Morris in J. Sparks Life G. Morris (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.
1848 C. Kingsley 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.
1988 Times (Nexis) 23 Apr. If income tax goes up and rates go down, it is as broad as it is long.
2021 @Mr_Jay_T_ 19 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 25 Apr. 2022) Resting a player to avoid a one game ban is as broad as it is long, especially when you're playing a similar opponent.
†b. in the broad or the long: in one way or another. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > in general [phrase] > in one way or another
in the broad or the long1682
one way and another1919
1682 J. Scarlett Stile of Exchanges 171 If the Principal..doth force his factor one way or other, in the broad or the long, to make up his Disbursements.
P2. in broad strokes (also in broad stroke): in general terms without focusing on details; in brief; generally. Frequently in to paint (also draw, etc.) in broad strokes.
ΘΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > in general [phrase] > in general terms or not in detail
in substancec1425
in gross1430
at large1533
generally speaking1549
in generality1563
in the general1584
as to the general1617
in general1621
by and large1707
in the vague1851
1850 Christian Examiner & Relig. Misc. Nov. 332 Inspiration..does not give us minute accounts of that upper world, but only great characteristics of what is beyond, as it also draws in broad strokes the chart of our corresponding course and duty.
1923 Times 20 July 13/6 A work of art the like of which had never been seen:..part epic, part drama,..sketching in broad strokes the titanic struggles between England and..France.
1964 Business Topics (Michigan State Univ.) Winter 30/1 These statistical figures paint in broad stroke some major differences between the backgrounds of entrepreneurs and of executives in established organizations.
2007 T. Dalton Cash Managem. iv. 37 In broad strokes, a balance sheet is a list of a company's assets and liabilities.

Compounds

C1. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘that has (a) broad ——’, by combining with a noun + -ed.
a. With reference to parts of the body, as in broad-bosomed, broad-eared, broad-footed, etc.Recorded earliest in broad-eyed adj. See also broad-backed adj., broad-bottomed adj., broad-breasted adj., broad-chested adj., broad-faced adj., broad-fronted adj., broad-headed adj., broad-mouthed adj., broad-shouldered adj.
Π
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1127 Ða huntes wæron swarte & micele & ladlice, & here hundes ealle swarte & bradegede & ladlice.
a1425 in W. H. Hulme Middle-Eng. Harrowing of Hell (1907) p. xxv (MED) The horss hath xxv propertes..After a lyon, prowd-herted, brod-brestid..After a woman, mery of chere, brod-buttokyd, and esy to lep on.
1567 G. Turberville tr. G. B. Spagnoli Eglogs viii. f. 73v Brode footed Lads wt shoulders square.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 128 Varro woulde haue them [sc. Bullocks] broade forheaded, great eyed and blacke.
1670 Caveat to Conventiclers 2 These [Van couriers] were grim visaged, Sawcer-ey'd, Broad-ear'd, Cloven-footed, Long-tail'd, Sharp-teeth'd, and all over Hairy.
1771 T. Pennant Synopsis Quadrupeds 12 Sheep... Broad-tailed. Ovis arabica.
1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. May 743/2 Such an ethereal-looking thing..shall one day become an anxious-looking, sharp-featured, pale-faced, loud-tongued, thin-bosomed, broad-hipped wife!
1868 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (Brit. Libr. pre-publ. copy) I. 154 The fruit of the broad-bosomed earth.
1943 J. Kerouac Let. 7 Apr. in Sel. Lett. 1940–56 (1995) 59 I still think that stooge is a piss-complected, broad-assed fartsack.
2016 C. Sánchez-Hernández et al. Bats Colima, Mexico 176/1 Broad-eared free-tailed bats are insectivores.
b. In general use, as in broad-bladed, broad-striped, broad-wheeled, etc. See also broad-based adj., broad-beamed adj., broad-brimmed adj., broad-leaved adj.
Π
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xx. l. 225 Sexty of þe same contreye..shoten aȝein with shotte many a shef of othes, And brode hoked arwes, goddes herte, & his nayles.
1531 G. Joye tr. Prophete Isaye lvii. sig. N.viijv Taking yowr lybidinouse plesure at the okes and vnder euery brode shadewed tre.
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Publick Wooing iii. xxi, in Playes Written 392 Your corn firm and full-car'd, your grass sweet and broad-bladed.
1723 Weekly Jrnl. 29 June 1440/2 She had on a red and white broad strip'd Thread Satin Gown, lin'd with red.
1816 G. Colman Eccentricities Edinb. 54 Like broad-wheel'd waggons wanting springs.
1869 R. F. Burton Explor. Highlands Brazil I. 398 The Spanish sombrero, plumed and broad-flapped.
1908 J. M. Orpen Reminisc. (1964) 240 A broad-rimmed, hard felt hat.
1971 P. Lovesey Detective wore Silk Drawers (1980) xiii. 135 The murder weapon was broad-bladed.
2008 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 21 June (Globe Style section) l8 England's Farrow & Ball..carries a handsome range of broad-striped wallpaper in shades such as navy and red.
c.
broad-banded adj. bound or fastened with broad bands; having broad bands of colour (frequently in the names of animals).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > variegation > stripiness > [adjective] > broad striped
bandy1552
belted1756
broad-banded1904
1795 ‘P. Pindar’ Pindariana 178 A large broad-banded apron, rather short, Surrounded her long waist.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 10/1 The broad-banded species (Xenurus unicinctus) is a rare creature [sc. armadillo] from Surinam.
2000 J. E. Werler & J. R. Dixon Texas Snakes 205 In its quest for food, the broad-banded water snake moves busily through its aquatic environment, poking its head into piles of debris and aquatic vegetation.
broad-billed adj. having a broad bill; chiefly in the names of animals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [adjective] > having beak or bill > of particular shape
long-billed1594
latirostrous1646
bill-twisteda1657
spoon-billed1668
hook-billed1695
slender-billed1769
thick-billed1770
bow-beaked1791
boat-billed1821
slender-beaked1824
tenuirostral1837
broad-billed1839
planirostrate1858
tenuirostrate1860
planirostral1890
the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Scolopacidae (snipes, etc.) > [adjective] > of the sandpiper
broad-billed1839
a1668 Sir T. Browne Notes Certain Birds in Notes & Lett. Nat. Hist. Norfolk (1902) 14 The most remarkable are Anas platyrinchos [sic.] a remarkably broad bild duck.
1839 W. B. O. Peabody in Zool. & Bot. Surv. Mass.: Birds 367 The Broad billed Sandpiper..is very rare in the United States.
2018 Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press 7 Apr. a6/4 The prevalent species outside our front door was the broad-billed hummingbird.
broad-brogued [brogue n.3] having a strong regional (esp. Irish or Scottish) accent; cf. sense A. 9.
ΚΠ
1835 Tait's Edinb. Mag. June 394/2 Oh, I have met much worse-mannered, broader-brogued Scotch ladies, and of rank, too.
1900 Daily News 8 Oct. 6/6 One broad-brogued Irishman.
2009 Bayside (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 13 Apr. 8 Although the popular and broad-brogued Glaswegian was born on April 1, she isn't anyone's fool.
broad-hearted adj. generous; magnanimous; big-hearted.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > morally elevated quality > [adjective] > high-minded or magnanimous
athelmodc1275
freec1380
worthya1393
great-heartedc1425
noble1447
magnanimec1475
greata1500
haught1530
magnanimous1547
heartya1555
high-minded1556
noble-natured1576
generous1581
noble-minded1586
liberal-minded1592
ingenious1597
ingenuous1598
large-hearted1607
noble-tempered1654
big-hearted1711
broad-hearted1719
megalopsychic1896
big1910
1714 D. Defoe Advice to People Great Brit. 3 That generous and broad hearted principle of Love to a Country.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 213 A very generous broad hearted Man.
2009 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 11 July (Features section) 14 She is a big, broad-hearted woman who radiates an irrepressible zest for life.
broad-listed adj. historical after 17th cent. designating a type of cloth, apparently characterized by wide lists (list n.3 2a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > [adjective] > border, edge, or selvage of
listed1552
broad-listed-
1584–5 Act 27 Elizabeth I c. 17 §2 in Statutes of Realm (1963) IV. 725 Any Cloth..of like making called Broadlisted Whites.
1606–7 Act 4 James I c. 2 §1 in Statutes of Realm (1963) IV. ii. 1137 Com[m]only called Sortinge Packe Broad Listed Clothes.
1896 H. de B. Gibbins Industry in Eng. iv. xix. 309 Broad-listed whites and reds, and fine cloths, also came from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire.
1975 G. D. Ramsay City of London ii. 38 An elaborate regulating statute of 1552 listed some three dozen kinds of English woollen cloths—short and long, coarse and fine, white and coloured, broad-listed and narrow-listed.
broad-nosed adj. having a broad nose; frequently in the names of animals.
ΚΠ
1591 T. Bradshaw & A. Bradshaw Shepherds Starre sig. Ev A nose flat to the face, & crooked importeth often a crooked bodie... On the contrarie, if crooked Eglelike, then high minded but lowe couraged. Simonased is libidinous. Also broad nosed, is furious.
1724 Post Boy 2 May He is a Youth about 19 Years old.., light brown Hair, a fair Complexion, broad Nos'd.
1892 Longman's Mag. Nov. 93 In some of the inland waters of Norfolk these broad-nosed eels are very numerous, and excessively unprepossessing in appearance.
1977 Insects Western Forests (U.S. Dept. Agric. Forest Service Misc. Publ. 1339) ii. 335 The adults are broad-nosed, scale-covered, somewhat elongate weevils ranging from 4.5 to 7.5 mm long.
2008 AAP Newsfeed (Nexis) 28 Dec. On Sunday, more than 30 broad-nosed sharks..sent swimmers scurrying from the water on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast near Brisbane.
broad-tailed adj. having a broad tail; chiefly in the names of animals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > rump and tail > [adjective] > relating to the tail > having a tail > having a broad tail
broad-tailed1803
platurous1858
platyurous1858
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 600 Heroditus saith, that such kind of sheepe are no where found but in Arabia: the longe-tailed sheepe he calleth Macrokercos, and the broad tailed sheepe Plateukercos.
1889 H. M. Forbes Hundredth Town x. 193 Their coats were broad-tailed, their hats low-crowned and broad-brimmed.
2018 Taos (New Mexico) News 5 Apr. b5/1 A couple of broad-tailed hummingbirds have been spotted in Santa Fe.
broad-toed adj. (of a shoe) not narrowing markedly towards the toe; wide in the toe.
ΚΠ
1668 N. Smith Quakers Spiritual Court Proclaim'd 39 But now when others come to wear these, then thou must leave them of, and betake thy self to a great-crown'd Hat, big enough for an Asses Head, and broad-toed Shooes, contrary to the World, and then thou dost right.
1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen I. iv. 86 The girl..made rather a pretty picture... The tawny hair, black velvet frock..and broad-toed Cromwell shoes.
1922 F. R. Sterrett Amazing Inheritance 87 She had to buy flat-heeled broad-toed shoes for walking, instead of the narrow-toed high heels for which her soul yearned.
2001 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 23 Apr. There, far from youthful, frisky footwear were pillow-soft, cushy, broad-toed shoes, safe harbor for my aching feet.
broad-tongued having a strong regional accent; cf. sense A. 9.
ΚΠ
1842 Age 13 Feb. 6/1 Madame Vestris makes Miss Morrion a pleasant, lady-like, naïve, Irish girl—the author has made her (were the dialogue pointedly, roundly, and strongly delivered), a broad tongued, common minded Irish woman.
1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 73 A broad-tongued North-countryman.
2020 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 10 Oct. 2 It is likely that they've occasionally been taken to task by broad-tongued, oatcakescoffing potters for not quite getting the lingo right.
C2. Compounds relating to textiles. Cf. senses A. 1c, B. 3 and broadcloth n.
broad lace n. a high-quality type of coach lace (coach lace n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > ornamental textiles > ornamental trimmings > [noun] > bordering or edging > other
cremil1393
miling1434
surfle?1533
scallop1603
broad-lace1846
beading1900
1790 World 24 Mar. An excellent chariot,..lined with fine white cloth, and trimmed with handsome broad lace.
1846 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. 6th Ser. 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’.
1985 Carriage Jrnl. 22 196/1 This is coach lace, a narrow, decorated fabric used for trimming the edges of cushions... It is of three kinds—Broad Lace about 2½ inches wide used for the purposes indicated above; Seaming Lace..; Pasting Lace.
broad silk n. silk woven in wide pieces, as distinguished from silk ribbons; also as a modifier, esp. in broad-silk weaver (cf. broad weaver n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of > broad silk
broad-silk-
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [noun] > weaving > method of > weaving other types of fabric > loom or machine for
linen-loom1404
osset loom1543
traverse-warp machine1826
gauze-loom1858
braider1874
braiding-machine1874
velvet-loom1875
leno loom1964
broad-silk-
1673 F. Kirkman Counterfeit Lady Unveiled 137 He walks into Spittle-fields, and enquires for a Broad silk-weaver.
1727 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman II. ii. v. 153 Now we now make at home all the fine Broad-Silks, Velvets, Brocades.
1883 American 5 262 The finest broad-silks..were produced in Macclesfield.
1996 J. Updike In Beauty of Lilies 85 Every weekday morning the ribbon weavers met at Helvetia Hall and the dyers' helpers and broad-silk weavers at Turn Hall.
broad trade n. now historical the trade in broadcloth or other broad textiles.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > specific types of trade > [noun] > trade in specific textiles
frippery1599
woolage1611
mercership1647
(the) Mercery1662
rag trade1745
hosiery1789
grey market1825
narrow-trade1827
costumer1830
linendrapery1849
wool-stapling1888
broad trade-
1796 Considerations Attempt East-India Company to become Manufacturers in Great-Britain 19 This silk was as fine and as good in quality, as any the Company ever imported; and yet it was of too inferior staple to be used as organzine in the broad trade.
1818 Times 29 Aug. 1/3 To journeymen silk-weavers.—Wanted, immediately, in the Broad Trade, for the country, two respectable young men..as foremen.
1991 A. Randall Before Luddites (2004) iii. 87 As..broad weavers shifted to narrow cloth, work there was spread more thinly so all experienced the decline of the broad trade.
broad weaver n. now historical a weaver who manufactures broadcloth; cf. broadcloth weaver n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [noun] > weaving > method of > weaving other types of fabric > one who
tapenera1400
line-weaver1415
linen-weaver1474
sayman1488
say weaver1565
silk-weaver1572
narrow weaver1594
say maker1611
linen-webster1642
broad-weaver-
1563 First Voy. 5 May (1986) in E. Cheyne & D. M. Barratt Probate Rec. Courts Bishop & Archdeacon Oxf. (1981) i. 130 Thomas Coeke, broad weaver, Witney.
1682 London Gaz. No. 1762/4 Mr. John Guile, Broad-Weaver..in Spittle-fields.
1828 H. Thomas Wards of London I. 362 Many French Protestants, who in this king's reign had left their country on account of persecution, planted themselves here,..being mostly broad weavers of silk.
2008 Past & Present No. 201. 67 A Kentish broad weaver, valuing his goods at forty shillings in 1628, further described himself as ‘a poore man’.
C3.
broad aisle n. chiefly U.S. (now rare) the main aisle or passage in a church or meeting house (meeting house n. 1).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > aisle or passage > [noun] > main
broad alley1731
broad aisle1807
1785 C. Burney Acct. Musical Performances Introd. 9 The whole preparations for these grand performances were comprised within the western part of the building, or broad aisle.
1807 Massachusetts Spy 25 Mar. Another pew at the right hand of the broad aisle, esteemed the pleasantest in said house.
1887 Harper's Mag. Dec. 161/2 Miss Flint shall have pew No. 40 in the broad aisle.
1934 New Eng. Q. 7 358 I recollect once falling asleep in the ‘long prayer,’ and incautiously leaning against the pew door, which was unfastened, whereby I was projected head foremost into the broad aisle.
broad alley n. originally and chiefly U.S. (now rare) the main aisle or passage in a church or meeting house (meeting house n. 1); = broad aisle n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > aisle or passage > [noun] > main
broad alley1731
broad aisle1807
1731 in H. S. Sheldon Documentary Hist. Suffield (1879–88) 250 Whether the Broad alley in the meeting House should be fil'd up.
1763 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1906) XLII. 139 With what face can you require a young woman to stand in the broad alley and there confess fornication?
1806 Intelligencer (Lancaster, Pa.) 21 Oct. Mr. Deming was sitting in the Pew east of the broad Alley.
1973 A. Foley Bolton Childhood in Oral Hist. 5 (1977) 34 This usually took the form of mock procession down the broad-alley, the bride-to-be draped in a curtain or white sheet.
broad-bottom adj. now chiefly historical founded on broad support from across the spectrum of opinions or beliefs; appealing to a wide range of supporters (typically in relation to a political party or faction, a ministry, etc.); = broad-bottomed adj. 2.
Π
1953 Sunday Times 3 May 8/4 The Broad Bottom Ministry, in which artists of all schools are to blend in mysterious harmony, is a phantom.
2021 M. Skjönsberg Persistence of Party i. 32 He briefly served in Henry Pelham's broad-bottom administration in 1744–5.
broad canvas n. something (esp. a book, film, or other creative work) likened to a wide and detailed artist's canvas in depicting or dealing with an extensive range of events, subjects, historical periods, characters, etc.; a general overview; a wide perspective.Chiefly in figurative contexts and extended metaphors.
Π
1765 in F. Webb Morality New Test. Pref. p. xxx What a field do metaphor, allegory, criticism, &c. open for dispute! what an extended broad canvas for priests to paint on, and draw a thousand scenes of absurdity and superstition!
1896 Publishers' Circular 25 Apr. 447/3 The novelist who works on a large scale—uses a broad canvas, to adopt the current phrase—is seldom master of the art of the short story.
1931 Motion Picture Nov. 62/2 It is a broad canvas Vidor [sc. the film's director] uses, introducing an amazing number of human beings, and characterizing them so that they are unforgettable, even though seen only for a moment.
2022 Indian Express (Nexis) 11 Mar. [He] has a unique ability to contextualise day-to-day political developments and governance issues and situate them in the broad canvas of India's complicated political history.
broad gold n. now historical broad pieces collectively (see broad piece n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > guinea or twenty-one shillings
goldfinch1602
piece1631
yellow boy1654
Guinea1666
broad gold1688
meg1688
broad1710
George's guinea1721
yellow1722
canary bird1785
stranger1785
yellow George1785
Geordie1786
spade-guinea1853
George guinea1880
1671 S. Newton Diary 19 Sept. (1890) 63 If he thought fit then six score peeces of..broad gold to be presented to the King.
1673 J. Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode i. i. 7 A man, in these hard times, snaps at 'em, as he does at Broad-gold.
1724 London Gaz. No. 6300/2 Two Persons have been offering to change Broad Gold for Guineas..They had 68 Broad Pieces.
1993 C. Spurgeon Power of Prayer in Believer's Life i. 19 He is a King who distributes pieces of broad gold.
Broad Left n. and adj. Politics (chiefly British) (a) n. (with the) a loose coalition of socialist, communist, and other left-wing groups presenting a unified alternative to the candidates and policies of the right; (b) adj. representing, belonging to, or supporting this coalition.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [noun] > the left
left1821
left wing1844
Broad Left1973
1973 Times 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.
1985 Compar. Politics 17 427 In the face of right-wing predominance, the rise of the left was led by the organization of a Broad Left Alliance after 1967.
1986 Courier-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.
1995 J. Miller Voxpop ii. 37 I'm broad left—I've supported Labour since I was 15, and been a member of the Labour party.
2013 B. Curtis S. Wales Miner 1964–85 34 The Broad Left amounted to a recognition of the need for left-wing allies and the necessity for more open CP [sc. Communist Party] organisation within the unions.
broad-scale adj. occurring on a wide scale; extensive; = wide-scale adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > extensive or on a large scale
largea1400
ample1437
farc1475
diffused?1570
spacious1589
extensive1605
wholesale1642
diffuse1644
extense1644
voluminousa1652
amplivagant1656
extentive1658
numerousa1661
extended1700
amplivagous1731
far-reaching1824
Homeric1841
large-scale1856
wholescale1910
wide-scale1925
big-scale1930
macroscopic1931
broadscale1958
1889 County Gentleman 8 June 804/1 I should like to submit an observation of broadscale trapping at the present time.
1941 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 41 958/1 Miss Haupt is exceptionally well equipped to aid the committee in developing a well-defined, broad-scale program.
2003 High Country News 14 Apr. 5/1 We have a concern where the Forest Service is using the public's fear of fire to do broad-scale logging in the backcountry.
† broad sea n. Obsolete (with the) the open sea.
Π
OE Crist III 1144 Se brada sæ cyðde cræftes meaht ond of clomme bræc up yrringa on eorþan fæðm.
a1400 Siege Jerusalem (Laud) (1932) l. 57 (MED) Þe racke..Blewe on þe brode se, bolned vp harde.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 33 A stithe man to the stere hade a stoute wynde Were blouen to þe brode se in a bir swithe.
† broad-seed n. Obsolete a flowering plant native to Mediterranean regions, Krubera peregrina (family Apiaceae).
ΚΠ
1829 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants 218 (table) Ulospermum... Broad-seed. Umbelliferæ.
1879 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. I. i. 709/1 Broad-seed, the English name of Ulospermum, a genus of umbelliferous plants. The solitary species is from Barbary.
broad-spectrum adj. (of an antibiotic, pesticide, etc.) effective against many different types of organism; (more generally) having a range of effective activity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [adjective] > relating to powers or effects of drugs > wide-spectrum
wide-spectrum1950
broad-spectrum1952
wide-spectrum1954
1950 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Nov. 1191/2 As with chloramphenicol and aureomycin, terramycin hydrochloride is a ‘broad-spectrum’ antibiotic.
1969 Times 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.
1991 Allure June 15/1 Today's broad-spectrum sunscreens do offer some defense against UVA rays.
2014 New Yorker 1 Dec. 66/1 Broad-spectrum antibiotics, which are prescribed prophylactically to patients undergoing surgery, can destroy gut flora.
broadstone n. stone that can be easily cut and worked in any direction, such as fine limestone or sandstone; = freestone n. 1; (sometimes also) ashlar (ashlar n. 1).The sense is not certain in early uses, which may simply refer more generally to flat slabs of stone used for building.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > building stone > dressed or hewn
parpen1252
parpen ashlar1361
ashlar1370
serch1416
ashlar-stonec1540
perpender1611
parpen stone1633
broad stone1703
plane ashlar1823
scantling1824
block-stonea1878
1397 Inquisition Misc. (P.R.O.: C 145/269/9) ml de Slatston preciij .vj.s', mlml de vet' brodston precij .vj.s'.
1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias i. xl. 94 A greate citie, consisting of houses made of Earth, and couered ouer with broade stone or slate.
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 56 Broad-stone..the same with Free-stone,..so called, because they are raised broad and thin out of the Quarries.
1830 W. H. Ireland England's Topographer IV. 748 At Bethersden there is much broadstone, commonly called Bethersden marble.
1992 Protection of Archit. Heritage against Nat. Disasters (Council of Europe) 66 Distinguished according to the materials used: broad stone or ashlar, timber framed, earth built, terracotta or some mixture of these.
2004 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 4 Apr. 47 In Westminster Abbey there is a broadstone seat in the East Cloister, known as the Maundy Bench, where early kings performed the act of humility on feet.
broad water n. a body of water wider than the normal channel of a river; a lake.The sense in early topographical use is not certain, as the locations have not been identified and the landscape may also have changed over time. Compare also the place names discussed in the etymological note.
Π
OE Bounds (Sawyer 916) in J. Crick Charters of St. Albans (2007) 191 Ærest æt bradan wætere of smeðan hleawe to þære stræt.
a1200 ( Bounds (Sawyer 645) in W. de G. Birch Cartularium Saxonicum (1893) III. 189 Of hylfes hæcce innon sulc up æftær sulue on ða holan riðe andlang riðe on ðæt brade wæter.
1711 Act 9 Anne in London Gaz. No. 4870/2 Fens, Lakes, broad Waters, or other Places of resort for Wild Fowl.
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone II. xx. 268 I could see all the inland valleys ribbon'd with broad waters.
1960 N. D. Ford All the World 47/2 Sweden is an exhilarating land of ​varied regions ranging from Arctic Lapland to the broad waters of the Lake District.
broadwing n. (a) the broad-winged hawk, Buteo platypterus; (b) Falconry any of various birds of prey, esp. of the genera Buteo and Parabuteo, which have relatively broad wings. [Compare earlier broad-winged hawk n. at broad-winged adj. Compounds.]
Π
1879 J. Krider 40 Years Notes Field Ornithologist 9 Sharp-winged Hawk... I think it is a variety of the Broad Wing, being found in company with them.
1964 F. Illingworth Falcons & Falconry (ed. 2) vi. 101 The Buzzard... The plumage is brown, mottled. The wings broad, for which reason Buzzards are alluded to as broadwings in the United States.
2011 J. P. Rafferty Meat Eaters ii. 40 Shortwings and broadwings take predominantly ground game, such as rabbit and hare, or bird species close to the ground, such as a pheasant breaking cover.
2016 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (Nexis) 25 May 3 e Red-tails often are on the power poles, broad-wings often are on neighborhood power lines.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).

broadadj.2

Brit. /brɔːd/, U.S. /brɔd/, /brɑd/
Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: abroad adj.
Etymology: Aphetic < abroad adj.
U.S. regional (southern). Now historical.
Designating a partner in a marriage between two enslaved people who live on different plantations. Also: designating a union or marriage of this type.Marriages between enslaved people were sometimes arranged or endorsed by slave-holders, but they were not recognized in law.
Π
1863 W. W. Malet Errand to South Summer 1862 iii. 57 If a negro marries a woman of another plantation, she is called a ‘broad wife’; the children stay with her.
1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the Wind ii. 24 Her father had ridden over to Twelve Oaks, the Wilkes plantation, that afternoon to offer to buy Dilcey, the broad wife of his valet, Pork.
1965 B. F. Jones Cultural Middle Passage (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill) iii. 92 A master..had the opportunity to exercise a genetically selective influence by forbidding his women to marry physically unfit broad-husbands.
2009 J. F. Baker Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation vi. 91 Jenny, purchased in 1802, maintained a non-legal broad marriage with a slave named Godfrey who lived in the vicinity.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2022).

† broadv.

Forms: Also Middle English northern brade.
Etymology: < broad adj.
Obsolete.
transitive. To broaden, spread abroad, expand.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > expansion or enlargement > expand or enlarge [verb (transitive)]
broada1250
room?1316
enlargec1380
largea1382
magnifya1382
alargec1384
spreada1387
amplify1432
brede1440
expanse1477
ampliatea1513
dilate1528
propagate1548
widen1566
explicate1578
expatiate1603
diduce1605
engross?1611
dilatate1613
biggen1643
promote1652
intend1658
expand1665
to run out1683
amplificate1731
broaden1744
outstretcha1758
largen1869
big1884
a1250 Owl & Nightingale 1312 Þe (a)mansing is so ibroded.
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter cxviii[xix]. 32 When thou bradid [L. dilatasti] my hert. Bradynge of hert is delytynge of rightwisnes.
1399 W. Langland Richard Redeles ii. 141 Þe blessid bredd brodid his wyngis.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online March 2021).

broadadv.

Brit. /brɔːd/, U.S. /brɔd/, /brɑd/
Forms: Old English–Middle English (chiefly northern) brade, Middle English brad (northern), Middle English brod, Middle English brodde, Middle English brood, Middle English broode, Middle English–1600s brode, 1500s–1600s broade, 1500s– broad, 1800s breead (English regional (northern)); also Scottish pre-1700 brade, pre-1700 brayd, pre-1700 1700s– braid.
Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: broad adj.1, Old English -e.
Etymology: < broad adj.1 + Old English -e, suffix forming adverbs.Compare Middle High German breit, breite (German breit).
1.
a. In a wide or extensive way; widely; esp. so as to be spread out over or through a wide space or area, or in various places. Cf. broadly adv. 3.
ΘΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [adverb] > with vast extent
abroadc1300
largelya1398
widely1579
spaciously1598
broadly1599
amply?1611
heaven-wide?1611
spacious1615
extensively1736
extendedly1806
worldwide1836
vastily1844
amplitudinously1921
OE Crist I 380 Eala seo wlitige..heofoncund þrynes, brade geblissad geond brytenwongas.
OE Genesis A (1931) 223 Sæ [probably read se] foldan dæl brade bebugeð beorhtum streamum Hebeleac utan.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 8610 Pur blod sprong ywis Viftene dawes & wende aboute brode & wide.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 754 A tri appeltre..þat was braunched ful brode.
?a1425 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 64 His baner full brade dysplaid is.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. Proem i. sig. A2 Whose praises..To blazon broade emongst her learned throng.
1662 A. Wright Pract. Comm. or Expos. Pentateuch xxi.134 The scab is a foulness arising of an itch, and spreading broader and broader if it be not look'd into.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. xiv. 285 Broad burst the lightnings, deep the thunders roll.
1793 J. Leslie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Birds V. 225 This spot spreads broad over the middle of the five first quills.
1825 European Mag. & London Rev. Feb. 118 Thy large moon is glaring broad on high.
1864 Amer. Monthly Knickerbocker June 551/2 Life opened broad before her: she would live it out bravely.
2003 Times 10 July 20/4 This could be..the fragmentation of a Church which over four centuries has spread broad and mainly benign across borders and oceans.
†b. With eyes wide open; with a fixed or vacant expression. Obsolete.
ΘΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > [adverb] > staring or gazing
agazec1350
with all the eyes in one's head1483
gazingly1564
at a or the gaze1578
staringly1580
on (also upon) the stare1709
in a gazea1715
upon the gaze1817
OE Ælfric Homily (Vitell. C.v) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 233 Þa beoþ blinde on mode þe ne [magon geseon] þæs geleafan leoht, þeah hi locion brade.
OE Wulfstan Homily (Hatton 113) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 5 Blinde gefettan, þæt hy locedan brade, and halte wurdan hale.
a1300 Passion our Lord l. 107 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 40 He hit et bluþeliche and lokede ful brode.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Canon's Yeoman's Tale (Ellesmere) (1875) l. 1420 Though ye looken neuer so brode and stare.
c1450 in F. J. Furnivall Hymns to Virgin & Christ (1867) 37 (MED) Summe staren broode & moun not se.
1749 Acct. Med. Controv. Cork 51 Let us then come forth now in a Group, look big, and stare broad, and speak in a louder Tone than we did in the Journal.
1838 J. H. Merivale Poems II. 159 Astolpho, staring broad like one just waking, Cried, ‘Damn her!’
c. Indicating that a person has fully woken from sleep. Now only in broad awake adj., broad waking adj. at Compounds 2.
Π
a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) xxxvii. 27 It was no dreme: I lay brode waking waking.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 30 From sleepe I broad waked.
1644 R. Vines Impostures Seducing Teachers Discovered 30 Errors are bashfull at first, and comming out of the darke cannot looke broad-waken upon the light.
1865 Dundee Courier & Argus 23 Jan. Jamie woke broad up.
1879 E. Dowden Southey 7 The small urchin, long perked up and broad awake.
2. So as to be easily perceived or understood; plainly, clearly; explicitly, unambiguously.In later use apparently only in the collocation broad and clear, which probably represents a separate figurative extension of sense 1a; cf. loud and clear at loud adv. 1e.
Π
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. v. l. 1298 How brode sheweþ [L. late patet] þe errour and þe folie of ȝow men.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 80 Which is broddir declarid in The folwer to the donet, and is proued openli in..The book of feith.
1578 R. Robinson tr. Dyall of Dayly Contemplacion sig C.ii In England then, trueth shewe thy stately style, And Iustice thou thy Baner brode display.
1697 H. Killigrew Court of Judicature xxvi. 46 A Dismay shews broader, than his Beard.
1844 C. Bridges Christian Ministry (ed. 6) v. v. 438 Here is his ‘image and superscription’ stamped broad and clear upon the Sacraments of the Church.
2007 A. Delgado Sutras of Abu Ghraib iv. 204 After twenty-two years of life and a year of war, it's written broad and clear across my heart.
3.
a. In a frank, direct, or outspoken manner. Now U.S. Cf. broadly adv. 2a.
ΘΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > plainness > [adverb] > straightforwardly or directly
platc1375
in short and plainc1386
plaina1387
platlyc1390
in (also at, on, unto) (a, the) plainc1395
roundc1405
homelya1413
directly1509
roundly1528
point-blank1598
in good set termsa1616
broadly1624
crudely1638
plain downa1640
plumply1726
plumpa1734
squably1737
straightforward1809
unvarnishedly1824
pine-blank1834
blankly1846
squarely1860
straight out1874
straightforwardly1906
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (1868) l. 739 Crist spak hym self ful brode in holy writ.
a1450 York Plays (1885) 149 Thou burdis to brode!
1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 20 Sen ȝe..hes spokin sa braid thairof in the pulpet.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. iv. 64 Who can speake broader, then hee that has no house to put his head in?
1691 T. Shadwell Scowrers ii. 16 If thou wilt have me speak broad I can bear it, have at thee.
1768 S. Richardson Clarissa (ed. 6) IV. 172 I am as much in earnest in it, as if I had spoken broader.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. v. 58 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.
1872 Testimony Joint Select Comm. Condition of Affairs Late Insurrectionary States: Alabama III. 1654 He said that wouldn't do, but I had to come out broad with it.
2009 E. Baydogan Amer. I Discovered vi. 69 So James, let's just talk broad OK? I always like to speak straight. I don't like intimations.
†b. With reference to laughter: in a loud, hearty, or unrestrained manner. Obsolete.
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > types of laughter > [adverb] > with loud or coarse laughter
guffawingly1822
1644 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce (ed. 2) To Parl. sig. A2v The brood of Belial..will laugh broad perhaps.
a1657 W. Burton Comm. Antoninus his Itinerary (1658) 50 The wise men of the age will laugh broad at these..enquiries.
1865 Proc. Nob Mountain Meeting 92 They ‘laughed broad’; their mouths were expanded in a lateral direction; their tongues were unloosed; all their feelings, passions, and emotions were high up and exultant.
4. With a very noticeable or strong regional accent; (in early use sometimes) spec. with long, open vowels. Cf. broad adj.1 9a, broadly adv. 1.
ΘΠ
the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > accent > [adverb] > broadly
broadly1574
a1475 (a1447) O. Bokenham Mappula Angliae in Englische Studien (1887) 10 31 (MED) The norþehumbirlonde pepelis tonge, specially yne Yorke, stradelithe soo brode & so vnsavorly is wyde þat þe sowtherne peple vnnethe can vndirstondyn hit.
?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Bi Ye shal pronounce..your e, as ye do in latyn, al most as brode as ye pronounce your a in englysshe.
1596 Raigne of Edward III sig. B4 And then spoke broad, With epithites and accents of the Scot.
1695 London Gaz. No. 3042/4 Capt. J. Lawe, aged 26, a Scotchman, lately a Prisoner in the Kings Bench for Murther...speaks broad and loud, has made his escape from the said Prison.
1771 S. Neville Diary 3 Nov. (1950) vii. 138 When these people talk very broad & fast, I cannot understand half of what they say.
1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. I. 408/1 Before 'er went to live at Oxford 'er talked broad, but now 'er talks fine.
1927 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover: Version 2 in First & Second Lady Chatterley Novels (2001) 124 I heard she had been carrying on with the new policeman, a great big ugly fellow as speaks so broad, you can scarcely make out what he says.
2003 G. Burn North of Eng. Home Service (2004) iii. 99 ‘Ah howay man, Jackie, divven gerrin a pet.’ He always talked broader when he was drunk.
5. Nautical. Wide of a particular course or point. Cf. large adv.
ΘΠ
society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > [adverb] > of position: wide of specific point
broad1669
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. i. ii. 17 The Ship lies very broad off; it is better spooning before the Sea, than trying or hulling.
1794 J. T. Duckworth Jrnl. 30 May in Naval Chron. (1799) 1 295 We saw the enemy broad to leeward.
1860 Mercantile Marine Mag. 7 82 A light was seen broad on the port bow [i.e. a good deal to the left of the point right ahead].
1885 Papers Naval Operations 1885 (Navy Dept. Bureau Navigation) 250 Supposed to have struck bottom in 12.5 feet of water and was heading broad to port when it rose.
2001 S. Shanks Bode Test. iii. 24 The destroyers..were 1300 yards broad to starboard and port of the Australia's bow.

Compounds

C1. Forming adjectives with present participles, past participles, and (less commonly) adjectives, as in broad-branching, broad-spreading, (also) broad-spread, broad-stretched, etc.See also broad-ranging adj.
ΘΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [adjective] > having strong or broad hind-quarters
well-spreadc1540
well-coupleda1642
strong-dockeda1652
full-trussed1683
broad-spread1687
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. met. vii. l. 1615 Lete hym loke vpon þe brode shewyng [L. patentes] contreys of þe heuen.
1591 E. Spenser Ruines of Time in Complaints 452 Broad spreading like an aged tree.
1600 C. Middleton Legend Duke of Glocester sig. B3 Vntill it prooue a goodly broad-spred tree, To shade poore shrubs from wrongs and iniury.
1621 G. Sandys tr. Ovid First Five Bks. Metamorphosis ii. 58 His broad-spred brest, long dangling dew-laps deck.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2211/4 A duskish brown bald Mare, broad spread.
1712 J. Mortimer Art of Husbandry: Pt. II 179 Dog-Fennel has..broad spread double white Flowers at the Top of the Branches.
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber v. 98 A broad laughing Voice..round Shoulders, an unconceiving Eye.
1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes (new ed.) I. i. xviii. 16 The broad-glaring eye of the tale-telling day.
1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer ii. 21 And at last to blurt out the broad staring question, of, madam, will you marry me?
1866 G. Pearce Death of Moses 86 E'en as his timorous young The eagle urges from their nest to rise; Bears on his broad-stretched wing, and trains them through the skies.
1877 J. Ruskin St. Mark's Rest iii. 40 Look, as you recross its bridge, westward, along the broad-flowing stream.
1973 ABA Jrnl. Oct. 1167/1 The broadspread anti-intellectualism and antiprofessionalism of eighteenth century America.
2019 MailOnline (Nexis) 29 Aug. A broad-grinning Tim holds a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other.
2022 Punch (Nigeria) (Nexis) 24 Feb. The goal has been to tackle the root causes of Lassa fever and its broad spread impact on infected individuals.
C2. Not in standard use in modern English.
broad awake adj. fully awake, wide awake; = broad waking adj.
ΘΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > state of being awake > [adjective] > fully
wide awake1658
1578 M. Tyler tr. D. Ortúñez de Calahorra Mirrour Princely Deedes viii. f. 13 Staieng his backe against a tree, he there remained more then two houres broad awake.
1666 J. Smith Γηροκομία Βασιλικὴ (ed. 2) 127 Then shall he be broad awake.
1736 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 29 Being in bed, but broad awake.
1845 G. S. Faber Eight Diss. II. App. viii. 352 The bard seems to have been broad awake.
2017 Bangalore Mirror (Nexis) 3 Oct. The counting of votes lasted for four days and the results were talked about live on radio non-stop and everyone was broad awake to hear the historic victory.
broad waking adj. fully awake, wide awake; = broad awake adj.
ΘΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > state of being awake > [adjective] > fully
wide awake1658
a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) xxxvii. 27 It was no dreme: I lay brode.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Ælian Registre of Hystories xii. f. 126 She sitteth all night singing vpon a bough, the sharpe end of a thorne standinge against her breast to kepe her broad waking.
1626 T. Hawkins tr. N. Caussin Holy Court I. 152 We dreame broad-waking.
1962 Brigham Young Univ. Stud. 4 148 I was broad waking And so was she.
1986 M. Hartnett tr. N. Ní Dhomhnaill Sel. Poems (2004) 107 The saint revealed her face one Sunday in a vision: It was no dream—I lay broad waking.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
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n.21535adj.1n.1eOEadj.21863v.a1250adv.OE
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