Broad, 1) wide, extended from side to side: “b. breast,” Ven. 296. “buttock,” Ven. 296 Ado I, 1, 318. All's IV, 7, 57. H6A I, 3, 36. Troil. I, 3, 27. Rom. II, 4, 88. Ant. II, 7, 48.
2) vast, extensive: “b. main,” Sonn. 80, 8. “till by b. spreading it disperse to nought,” H6A I, 2, 135. “the world is b. and wide,” Rom. III, 3, 16. Tropically: “those honours deep and b. wherewith your majesty loads our house,” Mcb. I, 6, 17.
3) puffed with pride: “in full as proud a place as b. Achilles,” Troil. I, 3, 190.
4) plain, evident: “proves thee far and wide a b. goose,” Rom. II, 4, 91 (Ff. abroad).
5) free, unrestrained: “as b. and general as the casing air,” Mcb. III, 4, 23. “from b. words . . . Macduff lives in disgrace,” III, 6, 21. “his pranks have been too b. to bear with,” Hml. III, 4, 2.
Used adverbially: b. awake == wide awake, Tit. II, 2, 17 (Ff. only awake). with all his crimes b. blown (== full-blown), Hml. III, 3, 81. “who can speak --er than he that has no house,” Tim. III, 4, 64 (== more freely).
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
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