broadwayn.1adj.1
/ˈbrɔːdweɪ/, U.S. /ˈbrɔdˌweɪ/, /ˈbrɑdˌweɪ/ A. n.1
1. A wide, open road or highway, as opposed to a narrow lane or byway. Also figurative.In the United States often as the name of a major street or thoroughfare in a town or city: see quots. a1862 and 1934, and cf. Broadway n.2Originally as two words; now chiefly as a single word.
ΘΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > wide
broadwaya1613
OE Bounds (Sawyer 977) in J. M. Kemble Codex Diplomaticus (1846) IV. 19 Andlang pæþes on ðæne bradan weg, andlang weges on helmstanes lege.
c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 13130 Forþ þeos eorles wende in one brode weye.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1674 (MED) Eche a kuntre worþ kept..eche brug, eche payþe, eche brode weye.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 597 They dressed on their helmys..and toke the brode way towarde Camelot.
a1613 T. Overbury True Acct. Exam. Joan Perry in Wks. (1856) 277 Where there is a broadway besides, what need I tread nere the borders of vice.
1721 Daily Courant 8 May 1/2 Bentley was..prosecuted for shooting Night Soil into the Grate over the Common Sewer in the Broad-Way.
a1862 H. D. Thoreau Excursions (1863) 121 With what interest we read the tattle of cities, of those larger huts, empty and to let, like this, in High Streets and Broadways.
1876 R. Browning Pacchiarotto & Other Poems 92 Duty and love, one broadway, were the best.
1934 J. Douglas Veterans on March i. 9 The men who fifteen years before had marched down the Main Streets and Broadways of the nation, and away to war.
1999 M. Syal Life isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee (2000) ii. 41 The car behind screeched in front of Tania..before its driver sped down the broadway.
2015 New Yorker 25 May 38/2 If the Nineteenth Amendment had been a broadway in constitutional law, instead of a dead end,..would Justices Scalia, Alito, Kennedy, Thomas, and Roberts still have been able to rule in favor of Hobby Lobby?
2. In figurative contexts (with allusion to Matthew 7:14): a course in life which is easy to take but which will ultimately lead a person to ruin or damnation. Esp. in the broad way to hell and variants.Chiefly as two words.
Π
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. (headings to readings) xxiii Per latam uiam multos, per angustam paucos introire testatur : ðerh brad woeg monige ðerh neruu uel unrum hwon uel unmonige inngae getrymes.
a1391 J. Clanvow Two Ways (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1975) 57 (MED) Woo is hym þat is founden in þe broode wey whanne he shal passe out of þis world.
?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 249 (MED) Þei..suffren pore men..to goo þe brode weie to helle.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) viii. §7. 29 Swa by the brad way thai ga till hell.
?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. b.iv To pull him bak in to ye voluptuouse brode way yt ledith to helle.
1669 O. Sansom in Acct. Life (1710) 70 With earnest desires, that you would consider your own States and Standings, every one of you, whether you are not in the Broad way.
1836 T. Dick Ess. on Sin & Evils Covetousness viii. 289 Another will rather go in the broad way to hell, than be out of the fashion of the gay world.
1901 Signs of Times 15 Oct. 621/2 Neither does walking in the broad way produce eternal death, but it does bring destruction to our joys and comforts of our Redeemer and his kingdom.
2011 L. Troyer Church in Society 244 Sparing every godly person from the toxic effects of sin that dooms the multitudes on the broad way to destruction.
With reference to a member of the Anglican communion: moderate, tolerant of a wide range of opinion in matters of doctrine and ritual; cf. Broad Church n. and adj. Obsolete. rare.Apparently an isolated use.
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society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Anglicanism > Broad Church > [adjective]
broadway1687
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 86 Your broad-way sons wou'd never be too nice To close with Calvin, if he paid their price.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
Broadwayadj.2n.2
/ˈbrɔːdweɪ/, U.S. /ˈbrɔdˌweɪ/, /ˈbrɑdˌweɪ/ A. adj.2 (in attributive use).
Of or relating to the theatres of Broadway theatre district in New York. Cf. off-Broadway adj., off-off-Broadway adj.
Π
1853 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 29 Aug. In the real Tragedy, one..can enjoy more in one night of Atwater's Othello or William Tell, than in a month of this Broadway star playing.
1881 Harper's Mag. Apr. 712/2 Another suggests some Broadway idea.
1923 Broadway Brevities Oct. 36 Why did Miss S—— now playing in a Broadway show, give her maid the ozone?
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 24/1 He made his Broadway debut as Lancelot in Camelot.
1993 New Yorker 19 July 11/1 A charmingly emotive Broadway veteran in the Streisand-Marcovicci mold.
2013 Daily Tel. 29 Mar. 39/1 A dynamic new ‘freestyle’ dance style..whose athletism swiftly came to define Broadway musicals.
B. n.2
(With capital initial.) The theatres of the Broadway theatre district in New York City, considered collectively. Also: the productions and theatrical style associated with these theatres. Cf. off-Broadway n., off-off-Broadway n.In general the theatres of Broadway are large and mount expensive productions, usually involving songs, music, and dance.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > [noun] > other types of theatre > collectively
broadway1881
west end1882
small1886
off-Broadway1953
off-off-Broadway1957
off-off-off Broadway1966
Off-Off1975
1887 Era 12 Nov. 15/5 I imagine that from the way in which he has been received here since he first showed himself on Broadway, that he has as many friends here as he has in England.
1907 I. Zangwill Ghetto Comedies 271 The ‘happy endings’ of Broadway.
1947 Life 17 Nov. 112/2 Medea is again a hit on Broadway and gives Judith Anderson the juiciest role of her distinguished career.
1974 V. Wehrum Amer. Theatre 51 It was the longest-running show in the history of Broadway.
2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Jan. c1/6 On Broadway the most evident trend has been toward chamber-style orchestrations.
Compounds
C1.
a. With participles and agent nouns, forming compounds in which Broadway expresses the object of the underlying verb, as in Broadway-goer, Broadway-going, Broadway-loving, etc.
Π
1917 Tacoma (Washington) Times 19 Nov. (Home ed.) 1/5 Neglected by her gay Broadway-loving husband.
1978 N.Y. Mag. 16 Oct. 131/3 A show consisting entirely of materials our Broadway-goers can recall from the past.
2015 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. (Late ed.) c2/3 We are working really hard to decenter feminism from the world of Manhattan-dwelling, Broadway-going feminists.
b. In combination with an adjective, with the sense ‘—— of the kind found on or associated with Broadway’. rare.
Π
1925 E. Sitwell et al. Poor Young People 35 A widow-theme That is..Ancien-Régime More than Broadway-American.
1939 M. Zaturenska Diaries, 1938–1944 (2002) 44 We met..a group of stranded vaudeville actors... I talked to one of them, a very Broadway-Jewish type.
c. As a modifier with past participles and adjectives, with the sense ‘for, on, of, or by Broadway’, as in Broadway-bound, Broadway-inspired, Broadway-worthy, Broadway-based, etc., adjectives.
Π
1937 Princeton Alumni Weekly 29 Jan. 355/3 The same playhouse..witnessed another Broadway-bound comedy, Hey, Diddle Diddle!
1975 Stag 1974–75 (Shawnigan Lake School, Brit. Columbia) 62/2 His Broadway-worthy acting and incredible timing injected much life and humour into the show.
2011 Taranaki (N.Z.) Daily News (Nexis) 29 June 1 The aspiring actress is hoping to learn plenty from her Broadway-based tutors.
2022 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 1 Mar. A Broadway-inspired production centred on the rich history of Katong.
C2.
Broadway-style adj. of a style characteristic of or associated with Broadway (in sense B.).
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1925 Billboard 21 Feb. 100/2 Nolan will have his Broadway Style show behind one of the elaborate wagon fronts.
1940 Life 9 Dec. 125/1 San Francisco is numerically ill-equipped with Broadway-style cabarets.
2011 Trailfinder Winter 29/3 Evenings are just as fun filled with Broadway-style entertainment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
broadwayadv.
/ˈbrɔːdweɪ/, U.S. /ˈbrɔdˌweɪ/, /ˈbrɑdˌweɪ/ Now rare.
Across the breadth of something; in a sideways direction; laterally.
ΘΠ
the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adverb] > in direction of width or breadth
breadthways1635
breadthwise1708
widthwise1785
widthways1794
1593 R. Harvey Philadelphus 44 Some [trees] are rooted broadway, as Elmes.
1867 L. Jewitt Ballads Derbyshire 137 It is printed broadway on the sheet, in four columns.
1938 A. Kirk in Printing Craft Lect. 1937–8 vi. 91 These short bars [of steel] are then heated and passed broadway through powerful solid rolls.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
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n.1adj.1OE
adj.2n.21853adv.1593