broad

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-der.? Proto-Germanic *braidaz Proto-West Germanic *braid Old English brād Middle English brod English broad From Middle English brood, brode, from Old English brād (“broad, flat, open, extended, spacious, wide, ample, copious”), from Proto-West Germanic *braid, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz (“broad, wide”), of uncertain origin. Cognates Cognate with Yola brode (“broad”), North Frisian bread, breeđ, briad, briid, briidj (“wide”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian breed (“broad, wide”), Bavarian brad, broad (“broad, wide”), Central Franconian and Luxembourgish breet (“broad, wide”), Dutch breed (“broad, wide”), German breit (“broad, wide”), Vilamovian braat (“broad, wide”), Yiddish ברייט (breyt, “broad, wide”), Danish and Swedish bred (“broad, wide”), Faroese and Icelandic breiður (“broad, wide”), Norwegian Bokmål bred, brei (“broad, wide”), Norwegian Nynorsk brei, breid (“broad, wide”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (braiþs, “broad, wide”).

1. Wide in extent or scope.

   “three feet broad”

   “the broad expanse of ocean”

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

   “a broad mixture of falsehood”

4. Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged.

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

   “in a broad, statesmanlike, and masterly way”

5. Plain; evident.

   “a broad hint”

6. General rather than specific.

   “to be in broad agreement”

7. Unsubtle; obvious.

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

8. Free; unrestrained; unconfined.

   “as broad and general as the casing air”

9. Gross; coarse; indelicate.

   “a broad compliment; a broad joke; broad humour”

10. Strongly regional.

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

11. Velarized, i.e. not palatalized.

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: Early 20th century, apparent phono-semantic matching of German Braut (“bride”, also “girlfriend”, and more generally “broad, young woman”).

1. A prostitute, a woman of loose morals.

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

2. A 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.”