broad

adjective

1. 1

   Wide in extent or scope.

   three feet broad

   the broad expanse of ocean

   Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

   Julia Farrington, head of arts at Index on Censorship, argues that extra powers to ban violent videos online will "end up too broad and open to misapplication, which would damage freedom of expression".

2. 2

   Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full.

   broad and open day

   crushing the minds of its victims in the broad and open day

3. 3

   Having a large measure of any thing or quality; unlimited; unrestrained.

   a broad mixture of falsehood

4. 4

   Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged.

   The words in the Constitution are broad enough to include the case.

   in a broad, statesmanlike, and masterly way

5. 5

   Plain; evident.

   a broad hint

6. 6

   General rather than specific.

   to be in broad agreement

7. 7

   Unsubtle; obvious.

   Lee: I wrote that line for you. Maeve: A bit broad, if you ask me.

8. 8

   Free; unrestrained; unconfined.

   as broad and general as the casing air

9. 9

   datedGross; coarse; indelicate.

   a broad compliment; a broad joke; broad humour

10. 10

    Strongly regional.

    She still has a broad Scottish accent, despite moving to California 20 years ago.

11. 11

    Velarized, i.e. not palatalized.

noun

1. 1

   A shallow lake, one of a number of bodies of water in eastern Norfolk and Suffolk.

2. 2

   A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders.

3. 3

   historicalA British gold coin worth 20 shillings, issued by the Commonwealth of England in 1656.

4. 4

   A kind of floodlight.

   […] fresnel spotlights, old-type broads, sky-pans, cone-lights, etc.

   Some broads have barn doors (see page 115) to block gross light spill into other set areas; others have even an adjustable beam, […]

   Light bounced from large white surfaces (e.g., matte reflector boards, or a white ceiling). Floodlights include scoops, broads, floodlight, banks, internally reflected units, strip lights, and cyclorama lights.

5. 5

   archaicA playing card.

   I reckon as old Sol couldn't ha' lived without a pack of broads. If he couldn't find anybody to play with him, he'd play alone, […]

noun

1. 1

   datedA prostitute, a woman of loose morals.

   “Now we go up Bowery Street look at broads. Me pay.”

2. 2

   datedA woman or girl.

   They always hook you in the end, them broads. This whole trouble is on account of a dame reads a book.

   Hey, man, Truck, you got to understand, she's a no class broad and you a gross son of a bitch. Naturally, she don't like you.

   The grunts resumed their bitching at the heat, the hills, and the lack of cold beer and hot broads.

   I mean, what the fuck. If a guy wants to get on with a broad on a more or less stable basis, who's to say to him no? Huh? A lot of these broads, you know, you just don't know, you know. I mean, a young woman in today's society, by the time she's 22–23, you don't know where the fuck she's been.

Forms

plural

broads

comparative

broader

superlative

broadest