1.  Wide; extend in breadth, or from side to side; -- opposed to narrow; as, a broad street, a broad table; an inch broad. [1913 Webster]

2.  Extending far and wide; extensive; vast; as, the broad expanse of ocean. [1913 Webster]

3.  Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full. Bp. Porteus. [1913 Webster]

4.  Fig.: Having a large measure of any thing or quality; not limited; not restrained; -- applied to any subject, and retaining the literal idea more or less clearly, the precise meaning depending largely on the substantive. [1913 Webster]
"Hence: -" [1913 Webster]
"A broad mixture of falsehood." [1913 Webster]

5.  Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged. [1913 Webster]
"The words in the Constitution are broad enough to include the case." [1913 Webster]
"In a broad, statesmanlike, and masterly way." [1913 Webster]

6.  Plain; evident; as, a broad hint. [1913 Webster]

7.  Free; unrestrained; unconfined. [1913 Webster]
"As broad and general as the casing air." [1913 Webster]

8.  Characterized by breadth. See Breadth. [1913 Webster]

9.  Cross; coarse; indelicate; as, a broad compliment; a broad joke; broad humor. [1913 Webster]

10.  Strongly marked; as, a broad Scotch accent. [1913 Webster]
" Broad is often used in compounds to signify wide, large, etc.; as, broad-chested, broad-shouldered, broad-spreading, broad-winged." [1913 Webster]
"It is as broad as long, whether they rise to others, or bring others down to them." [1913 Webster]

1.  The broad part of anything; as, the broad of an oar. [1913 Webster]

2.  The spread of a river into a sheet of water; a flooded fen. Southey. [1913 Webster]

3.  A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders. Knight. [1913 Webster]

4.  A woman, especially one who is sexually promiscuous; -- usually considered offensive. [PJC]

broad, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 large in extent from one side to the other; wide.
2 (following a measurement) in breadth (2 metres broad).
3 spacious or extensive (broad acres; a broad plain).
4 full and clear (broad daylight).
5 explicit, unmistakable (broad hint).
6 general; not taking account of detail (broad intentions; a broad inquiry; in the broadest sense of the word).
7 chief or principal (the broad facts).
8 tolerant, liberal (take a broad view).
9 somewhat coarse (broad humour).
10 (of speech) markedly regional (broad Scots).
--n.
1 the broad part of something (broad of the back).
2 US sl. a young woman.
3 (the Broads) large areas of fresh water in E. Anglia, formed where rivers widen.

Idiom:
broad arrow see ARROW. broad bean
1 a kind of bean, Vicia faba, with pods containing large edible flat seeds.
2 one of these seeds. Broad Church a group within the Anglican Church favouring a liberal interpretation of doctrine. broad gauge a railway track with a gauge wider than the standard one. broad-leaved (of a tree) deciduous and hard-timbered. broad pennant a short swallow-tailed pennant distinguishing the commodore's ship in a squadron. broad spectrum (of a medicinal substance) effective against a large variety of micro-organisms.

Derivative:
broadness n. broadways adv. broadwise adv.

Etymology:
OE brad f. Gmc

N  generality, generalization, universality, catholicity, catholicism, miscellany, miscellaneousness, dragnet, common run, worldwideness, everyone, everybody, all hands, all the world and his wife, anybody, N or M, all sorts, prevalence, run, general, generic, collective, broad, comprehensive, sweeping, encyclopedical, widespread, universal, catholic, catholical, common, worldwide, ecumenical, oecumenical, transcendental, prevalent, prevailing, rife, epidemic, besetting, all over, covered with, Pan-American, Anglican, Pan-Hellenic, Pan-Germanic, slavic, panharmonic, every, all, unspecified, impersonal, customary, whatever, whatsoever, to a man, one and all, generally, always, for better for worse, in general, generally speaking, speaking generally, for the most part, in the long run.

N  impurity, uncleanness, immodesty, grossness, indelicacy, indecency, impudicity, obscenity, ribaldry, Fescennine, smut, bawdry, double entente, equivoque, concupiscence, lust, carnality, flesh, salacity, pruriency, lechery, lasciviency, lubricity, Sadism, sapphism, incontinence, intrigue, faux pas, amour, amourette, gallantry, debauchery, libertinish, libertinage, fornication, liaison, wenching, venery, dissipation, seduction, defloration, defilement, abuse, violation, rape, incest, prostitution, social evil, harlotry, stupration, whoredom, concubinage, cuckoldom, adultery, advoutry, crim, con, free love, seraglio, harem, brothel, bagnio, stew, bawdyhouse, cat house, lupanar, house of ill fame, bordel, bordello, impure, unclean, not to be mentioned to ears polite, immodest, shameless, indecorous, indelicate, indecent, Fescennine, loose, risque, coarse, gross, broad, free, equivocal, smutty, fulsome, ribald, obscene, bawdy, pornographic, concupiscent, prurient, lickerish, rampant, lustful, carnal, carnal-minded, lewd, lascivious, lecherous, libidinous, erotic, ruttish, salacious, Paphian, voluptuous, goatish, must, musty, unchaste, light, wanton, licentious, debauched, dissolute, of loose character, of easy virtue, frail, gay, riggish, incontinent, meretricious, rakish, gallant, dissipated, no better than she should be, on the town, on the streets, on the pave, on the loose, adulterous, incestuous, bestial.

N  breadth, thickness, breadth, width, latitude, amplitude, diameter, bore, caliber, radius, superficial extent, thickness, crassitude, corpulence, dilation, broad, wide, ample, extended, discous, fanlike, outspread, outstretched, wide as a church-door, latifoliate, latifolous, thick, dumpy, squab, squat, thickset, thick as a rope.

N  gulf, lake, land covered with water, gulf, gulph, bay, inlet, bight, estuary, arm of the sea, bayou, fiord, armlet, frith, firth, ostiary, mouth, lagune, lagoon, indraught, cove, creek, natural harbor, roads, strait, narrows, Euripus, sound, belt, gut, kyles, continental slope, continental shelf, lake, loch, lough, mere, tarn, plash, broad, pond, pool, lin, puddle, slab, well, artesian well, standing water, dead water, sheet of water, fish pond, mill pond, ditch, dike, dyke, dam, reservoir, alberca, barachois, hog wallow, lacustrine.

N  affirmance, affirmation, statement, allegation, assertion, predication, declaration, word, averment, confirmation, asseveration, adjuration, swearing, oath, affidavit, deposition, avouchment, assurance, protest, protestation, profession, acknowledgment, legal pledge, pronouncement, solemn averment, solemn avowal, solemn declaration, remark, observation, position, saying, dictum, sentence, ipse dixit, emphasis, weight, dogmatism, dogmatics, asserting, declaratory, predicatory, pronunciative, affirmative, soi-disant, positive, certain, express, explicit, absolute, emphatic, flat, broad, round, pointed, marked, distinct, decided, confident, trenchant, dogmatic, definitive, formal, solemn, categorical, peremptory, unretracted, predicable, affirmatively, in the affirmative, with emphasis, ex-cathedra, without fear of contradiction, as God is my witness, I must say, indeed, i' faith, let me tell you, why, give me leave to say, marry, you may be sure, I'd have you to know, upon my word, upon my honor, by my troth, egad, I assure you, by jingo, by Jove, by George, troth, seriously, sadly, in sadness, in sober sadness, in truth, in earnest, of a truth, truly, perdy, in all conscience, upon oath, be assured, yes, I'll warrant, I'll warrant you, I'll engage, I'll answer for it, I'll be bound, I'll venture to say, I'll take my oath, in fact, forsooth, joking apart, so help me God, not to mince the matter, quoth he, dixi.

broad arrow, broad bean, broad beech fern, broad buckler-fern, broad church, broad gauge, broad hatchet, broad interpretation, broad jump, broad leaved centaury, broad leaved goldenrod, broad minded, broad seal, broad shouldered, in a broad way