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单词 wide
释义

widen.

Brit. /wʌɪd/, U.S. /waɪd/
Forms: Old English–Middle English 1800s– wide, Middle English–1500s wyde.
Origin: Probably of multiple origins. Probably partly a word inherited from Germanic. Partly formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: wide adj.
Etymology: Probably originally cognate with Old Frisian wīde , Middle Dutch wīde (Dutch †wijde ; compare wijdte width n.), Middle Low German wīde , Old High German wītī (Middle High German wīte , German Weite ), Old Danish vidhe , vidæ (compare Danish vidde width n.) < the same Germanic base as wide adj. In later use < wide adj. Compare later width n. and the Germanic forms cited at that entry.In Old English securely attested only once (see quot. OE at sense 1a). Probably, like its continental cognates, originally a Germanic strong feminine īn -stem, the expected form of which in Old English (after assimilation to the ō -stem declension) would be *wīdu ; it is unclear whether the attested form wīde shows levelling of endings from oblique cases or a weak feminine by-form. With sense 2 compare Old Icelandic víðir (poetic) the wide sea. In sense 3 short for wide ball (see wide adj. 11b). Earlier currency in sense 6 is perhaps shown by the following example:OE Paris Psalter (1932) xcii. 5 Hofan heora stefne streamas, drihten, hofan and hlynsadan hludan reorde fram wæterstefnum widra manigra [L. a vocibus aquarum multarum]. However, wīdra is probably better taken as adjectival (compare the Latin genitive plural aquarum in the source), although the syntax is muddled and defies conclusive analysis. Apparently re-formed in the 19th cent.
†1.
a. Width, breadth. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [noun]
bredeeOE
widenessOE
wideOE
latitude1398
broada1400
broadnessa1425
largeness?a1425
breadth1459
width1570
largitude1590
cross1630
OE tr. Wonders of East (Tiber.) §18. 194 Heora wide [OE Vitell. widnes] is cc mila ðæs læssan getales þe stadia hatte & ðæs maran ðe leuua hatte cxxxiii & an healf mil.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 1676 A schippe be-houes þe to dight,..Seuen score ellen lang and ten, Thrys aght on wyde, on heght fiueten.
c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) l. 9959 (MED) In all þe werldes wyde of his wytt went þe fame.
b. on (length and) wide: throughout the whole area, far and wide; widely, broadly. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > here, there, etc. > [adverb] > everywhere > on all sides or all around
on (length and) widec1300
round aboutc1350
about rounda1393
rounda1393
far-abouta1400
c1300 Life & Martyrdom Thomas Becket (Harl. 2277) (1845) l. 1180 Holi churche he aboute dure, that me tiȝth on wide [c1300 Laud tellez of wel wide, a1325 Corpus Cambr. telleþ of wide].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 1646 Couetys, hordan, envie, and pride Has spred þis werld on lenth and wide.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1423 (MED) He waytez on wyde, his wenches he byholdes.
c1450 (?a1370) Wynnere & Wastoure (1990) 213 (MED) The Kynge waytted one wyde and the wyne askes.
1565 T. Peend tr. M. Bandello Moste Notable Hist. Ld. Mandosse sig. H.iiiv O ground gape thou on wyde, my..soule receaue.
†2. The open sea. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1013 Þai seylden in to þe wide.
3. Cricket. A delivery judged to have been bowled too wide for the batter to hit from where he or she stands to receive the ball and from a normal guard position, for which a run is awarded to the batting side; the run awarded for such a delivery. Cf. slightly earlier wide ball at wide adj. 11b.A wide does not count as one of the balls in an over.
Quot. 1828 and occasional similar early uses may be adverbial, or abbreviated by the constraints of the newspaper column; at this time the fuller form wide ball was consistently used in scorecards.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [noun] > a ball bowled > types of delivery or ball
full toss1826
long hop1830
twister1832
bail ball1833
bailer1833
grubber1837
slow ball1838
wide1838
ground ball1839
shooter1843
slower ball1846
twiddler1847
creeper1848
lob1851
sneak1851
sneaker1851
slow1854
bumper1855
teaser1856
daisy-cutter1857
popper1857
yorker1861
sharpshooter1863
headball1866
screwball1866
underhand1866
skimmerc1868
grub1870
ramrod1870
raymonder1870
round-armer1871
grass cutter1876
short pitch1877
leg break1878
lob ball1880
off-break1883
donkey-drop1888
tice1888
fast break1889
leg-breaker1892
kicker1894
spinner1895
wrong 'un1897
googly1903
fizzer1904
dolly1906
short ball1911
wrong 'un1911
bosie1912
bouncer1913
flyer1913
percher1913
finger-spinner1920
inswinger1920
outswinger1920
swinger1920
off-spinner1924
away swinger1925
Chinaman1929
overspinner1930
tweaker1938
riser1944
leg-cutter1949
seamer1952
leggy1954
off-cutter1955
squatter1955
flipper1959
lifter1959
cutter1960
beamer1961
loosener1962
doosra1999
1828 Hampshire Chron. 8 Sept. 2d Innings..Byes 3, wide 1.]
1838 Leeds Times 4 Aug. 5/4 Cobough..Wides, byes, and no balls 3.
1850 ‘Bat’ Cricketer's Man. (rev. ed.) 46 Rule the [scoring] sheet..with three additional [lines] for wides, byes, and no-balls.
1880 London Evening Standard 18 May 6/7 Shaw..tried his slows, and began with three wides.
1930 L. Charteris Enter Saint (1992) 81 He was always ready to make his duck or bowl his wides in any cricket game that happened to be going.
1987 Wisden Cricket Monthly Aug. 2/1 If the scores are level at the end of the match and a ‘no-ball’ or ‘wide’ is called, the batting side has won.
2007 Wisden Cricketer July 42/4 They bowled so many bouncers and wides and we just couldn't hit 'em.
4. Phonetics. A wide vowel. Cf. wide adj. 7b. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [noun] > types of
naso-vocal1669
sheva1818
union vowel1821
shut sound1841
cardinal vowel1851
u-sound1852
neutral vowel1868
O1869
wide1870
vincular1871
indeterminate vowel1873
u-vowel1886
orinasal1887
pharyngal1887
glide-vowel1888
schwa1895
murmur vowel1910
murmured vowel1933
1870 Trans. Philol. Soc. 107/2 None certainly distinguish the six sounds formed by the ‘primaries’ and ‘wides’ of any series.
1877 H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics §45 The narrow back unrounded vowels are indicated by the ‘turned’ letters of the corresponding wides..(ɔ) is assumed to be a turned (o).
1881 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 232 The wides must be old in South German, for in some of the Swiss dialects their lengthenings are still wide.
1966 Maal og Minne Oct. 49 In the case of the back vowels the wides are higher than the narrows.
5. colloquial. to the wide: to the extreme; entirely, utterly. Esp. in blind (dead, done, out, etc.) to the wide: worn out, done-for; defeated; incapacitated; unconscious.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > greatly or very much [phrase] > utter > utterly
all outc1300
out and outc1300
at all devicec1385
to devicec1385
right out?1543
up to the chin1546
up to the eyes1607
upsy Friese1609
up to the (or one's) eyebrowsa1627
all hollow1762
(immersed, steeped) to the lipsa1822
all ends up1850
fair and square1870
right spang1884
to the wide1895
a (also one) hundred per cent1911
1895 Ballarat (Victoria) Star 10 Jan. They are wrecked and disastered—‘broke to the wide’—as the turf's classic phrase is.
1905 J. Meredith Learn to talk Old Jack Lang (1984) 12 I rambled over to the rubbity dub and had a pint of oh my dear. In fact I had several and finished up in the dead house, broke to the wide.
1910 Sydney Sportsman 29 June 6/6 For when once he's asleep he is dead to the ‘wide’.
1915 G. Frankau Tid'apa iii. 19 ‘Blind, blind to the wide.’ It was shaky, his hand on the dipper-bar, As the water slopped over, gurgling, from its Ali-baba jar.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words (at cited word) Done to the wide, utterly beaten.
1929 W. J. Locke Jorico 46 ‘You're broke’... ‘To the wide,’ said Nicholas.
1958 F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. (U.S. ed.) 96 Out to the wide, completely unconscious.
1959 L. Lee Cider with Rosie 90 Wake up, lamb... He's wacked to the wide. Let's try and carry him up.
1963 M. Duggan in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 2nd Ser. 97 Honest, simple and broke to the wide.
2012 K. Samachai Incubus 165 You know nothing would give me more pleasure than giving you the money, problem is I'm broke to the wide and so is everyone else I know on this farm.
6. Anything that is wide, sometimes contrasted with a corresponding thing that is narrow; esp. a wide or open space or region.Quot. 1842 probably shows a postpositive use of the adjective, echoing the following use by Milton:
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 283 The waste Wide Anarchie of Chaos.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > [noun] > ocean, open sea, or deep sea
room seaeOE
seawaya1000
the deepc1000
deptha1382
oceana1387
mid-sea?a1425
profound?a1425
main seaa1530
high seas1566
main1579
main flood1596
the deep1598
deep sea1626
dipsey1626
mid-ocean1697
blue water1803
haaf1809
salt chuck1868
wide1916
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [noun] > vast extent > that which is
latitude?a1475
sea1585
ocean1590
vasture1596
vast1604
vastity1652
vastness1674
immense1791
breadths1839
vastitude1841
Atlantic1865
wide1916
1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 124 The waste wide Of that abyss.]
1916 E. Blunden Silver Bird of Herndyke Mill sig. D4 There seems no heart in wood or wide.
1957 J. Kerouac On the Road 255 Kansas night-cows in the secret wides.
1987 Coarse Angler Feb. 37/1 These canal ‘wides’ are noted hotspots for all species of fish.
2006 Running Times Sept. 36/1 As with many New Balance shoes.., both narrows and wides are available in all lengths.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

wideadj.

Brit. /wʌɪd/, U.S. /waɪd/
Forms: early Old English wiid- (in compounds), Old English widd- (in inflected forms, before r), Old English–Middle English wid, Old English–1600s wyd, Middle English uide, Middle English wijd, Middle English wyte (probably transmission error), Middle English wyyd, Middle English–1500s wydde, Middle English 1600s whide, Middle English–1600s wyde, Middle English– wide, 1600s weede, 1800s weyd (English regional (Cumberland)), 1900s wahd (English regional (Yorkshire)); Scottish pre-1700 vide, pre-1700 void, pre-1700 vyd, pre-1700 vyde, pre-1700 wid, pre-1700 wyd, pre-1700 wyid, pre-1700 1700s wyde, pre-1700 1700s– wide, 1900s weide. Comparative

α. Old English widdra, Middle English widdir, Middle English widdur, Middle English wyddur, Middle English wyddyre, Middle English–1500s wydder, Middle English–1600s widder.

β. late Middle English widere, late Middle English wijdir, late Middle English– wider; Scottish pre-1700 waider, pre-1700 woidar, pre-1700 wyder.

Superlative

α. Middle English widdest.

β. Middle English– widest, 1600s widst (poetic).

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian wīd, Middle Dutch wīde (Dutch wijd), Old Saxon wīd (Middle Low German wīde), Old High German wīt (Middle High German wīt, German weit), Old Icelandic víðr, Old Swedish viþer (Swedish vid), Old Danish vidh (Danish vid) < a Germanic base of uncertain and disputed origin. Comparative and superlative forms. Comparative and superlative forms with -dd- (see α. forms; compare similar forms of wide adv.) apparently show shortening of the vowel and compensatory lengthening of the consonant (originally before r of the comparative ending), with subsequent shortening of the stem vowel in early Middle English. Specific senses. With sense 9 compare Old English wīdwegas (plural) distant parts (compare way n.1). In sense 13b perhaps after wide awake n. 3; compare wide awake adj. 2.
I. Having great extent; extensive.
1.
a.
(a) Having great spatial extent, esp. horizontally; vast, extensive, spacious, ample. In later use chiefly as a conventional epithet of words denoting an extensive area, esp. the earth or the sea (often poetic and rhetorical).Some later examples may be regarded as generalized uses of sense 5.wide open spaces: see wide (also great, vast) open spaces at open space n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [adjective] > of vast extent
broadOE
sideOE
wideOE
largec1230
spaciousa1382
unridea1425
amplea1492
well-spreadc1540
main1548
overreaching1579
widespread1582
spacious1587
wide-spreading1587
scopeful1598
vasty1598
scopious1599
vast1600
worldwide1602
spaceful1621
dimensious1632
voluminousa1661
extensive1706
sheety1748
sweeping1772
extended1779
expansive1806
wide-spreaded1820
heaven-wide1835
spanless1847
rangy1898
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [adjective] > having great breadth or width
broadOE
wideOE
largec1300
straight?a1366
spacious1506
basin-wide1591
late1597
broad-backed1651
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > largeness > [adjective] > of vast extent > conventionally
wideOE
OE Cynewulf Juliana 9 Wæs his rice brad, wid ond weorðlic ofer werþeode, lytesna ofer ealne yrmenne grund.
OE Genesis A (1931) 104 Ac þes wida grund stod deop and dim.
a1250 (?c1200) Sawles Warde (Titus) (1938) 11 (MED) Helle is wid wiðute met & deop wiðute grunde.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 58 Eneas þe duc mid his driht-folcke. widen iwalken. ȝend þat wide water.
a1350 (?c1225) King Horn (Harl.) (1901) l. 643 Þe kyng rod on hontynge to þe wode wyde.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 15 Cristendom was nyh wydder þan þe empere of Rome.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 13702 Þair lagh wald man suld hir stan, In to midward þis temple wide.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 28 The chambres and the stables weeren wyde.
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 934 Alle þe world so wyde and brade, Our Lord speciali for man made.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 526 Wyyd [?a1475 Winch. Wydde] yn space, spaciosus.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Prov. xxi. B It is better to dwell in a corner vnder ye house toppe, then with a braulinge woman in a wyde house.
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 2 Within thay fellis wyde.
1600 A. Munday et al. First Pt. True Hist. Sir I. Old-castle sig. I4 The wide horrison.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 137 This wide and vniuersall Theater Presents more wofull Pageants then the Sceane Wherein we play in. View more context for this quotation
1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 27 The wide Ocean.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 263 The wide open Places under the Chief Cupuloes of their Buzzars.
1724 A. Ramsay Vision in Ever Green I. 222 A wyde and splendit Hall.
1776 J. Copland St. Andrews ii. 28 The burnish'd roof, that..Shone far and near o'er Ocean's wide domain.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen xv. 208 A shout that tore the wide air into tatters.
1847 J. Yeowell Chron. Anc. Brit. Church viii. 84 At Iona, or Icolm-kill, in the midst of wide waters.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies iii. 123 Tom thought nothing about what the river was like. All his fancy was, to get down to the wide wide sea.
1871 G. MacDonald Wks. Fancy & Imagination II. 230 O all wide places, far from feverous towns!.. Room! give me room!
1920 R. Graves Country Sentiment 34 He soars and he hovers rocking on his wings, He scans his wide parish with a sharp eye.
1995 Traveller Summer 34/3 Picture yourself..ascending into the wide blue yonder in a hot air balloon.
2012 I. Read Hierarchies of Slavery in Santos, Brazil Concl. 197 A wide horizon of uninhabitable marshland.
(b) As an epithet of world. Also in whole wide world.In later use sometimes implying a contrast with the privacy or security of one's own home or country.
ΚΠ
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) (2009) viii. 39 Eala, þær hit wurde oðþe wolde God þæt on eorðan nu ussa tida geond þas widan weoruld wæren æghwæs swelce under sunnan.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 12117 Off all þiss wide middell ærd Þe kine domess alle.]
a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 77 Þe sunne streonþ þe lome þet ho spret in to al þis wide worlde.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) 60 Ðat was ðe firme morgen-tid Ðat euere sprong in werld wid.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 595 (MED) Al the wide worldes fame Spak worschipe of hire goode name.
c1405 (c1375) G. Chaucer Monk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 380 Nero..This wide world hadde in subieccioun.
c1450 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 15th Cent. (1939) 262 (MED) The worlde so wide, th'aire so remuable..what creature..May stedfast be?
a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum l. 141 in Poems (1899) 49 (MED) The best thinge in al this wide world is this, For to be renouned in blessed fame.
1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 135 As we bee sonnes of the world so wide.
1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence Hecyra iv. iv, in Terence in Eng. 374 Shall we rather..leaue him to the wide world?
1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman iv. 35 Turne them out into the wide world with a little money in their purses.
1658 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) II. 69 The world being wyde she would not venture her conscience upon a disputable point.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ i. i. §3 These were so fully known to him..that he needed not to go to School to the wide world.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 141 I shall be turn'd a drift to the wide World.
1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote II. v. xii. 51 The thoughts of resigning my little preferment, and embarking in the wide world with so young a consort.
1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 136 Had his article been the only article in the whole wide world, it might perhaps have had some small chance of insertion.
1842 C. Dickens Amer. Notes I. vi. 212 The coarse and bloated faces..have counterparts..all the wide world over.
1847 J. B. Buckstone Flowers of Forest iii. vii No, no—not for the wide wide world.
1906 K. Trask Night & Morning 34 Take me, Leonidas, to thy strong arms—..fold me from the whole wide world.
1959 L. Armstrong in T. Brothers Louis Armstrong in His Own Words (1999) viii. 116 Mary-Ann had already 'hipped me to what was happening in this healthful wide beautiful world.
1975 J. B. Keane Lett. of Matchmaker 89 The strangest feeling came over me like as if I was the only creature in the whole wide world.
2010 S. Fry Fry Chrons. 213 Now..we were in the big wide world, one which was looking towards the punker end of the comedy spectrum.
(c) wide brown land n. Australian Australia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Australasia > [noun] > Australia
mainland1829
commonwealth1891
Ma State1906
Oz1908
wide brown land1908
Aussie1915
Aussieland1919
1908 Spectator 5 Sept. 329/1 Her beauty and her terror—The wide brown land for me.
1934 J. Mackaness & G. Mackaness (title) The wide brown land.
1973 Australian 4 May 11 Migrants are staying away in droves from the widest and brownest part of this wide, brown land.
2015 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 4 Oct. 82 The sights, sounds, smells and wonders of this wide brown land.
†b. Of a garment or part of a garment: capacious, ample; large and loose. Cf. wide coat n. at Compounds 2. Obsolete, except as merged with sense 5.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > that fits in specific way > loose-fitting
wide?c1225
unbraced?1518
lax1621
loose-flowing1777
uncinctured1790
sloppy1825
sacky1891
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 46 Nu comeð forð an feble mon. & hald him þach aȝelich ȝef þet he haueð an wid hod & an loke cape.
?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) l. 99 His fader him ȝaf a kurtel þat rum was & wid,..hit was him fotsid.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xix. l. 271 (MED) Thenne hadde ich wonder of hus wordes and of hus wide cloþes.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Monk's Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 61 Why werestow so wyd a cope?
a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 196 His cloþes were lompurt, and scho wold haue amende hom, but scho myght not, for þay wern so wyde.
1511 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1902) IV. 197 To be the King ane wyd doublete fra Maistir Johne of Murray.
1561 T. Paynell tr. N. Hanapus Ensamples Vertue & Vice cxxx. sig. b.iiiiv Our Lorde shall take awaye..the goodly floured wide and broydred raiment.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 256 And there the snake throwes her enammeld skinne, Weed wide enough to wrappe a Fairy in. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 160 His youthfull hose well sau'd, a world too wide, For his shrunke shanke.
1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xvii. cl. 326/1 Her Body was disposed in a frame Of wide and easie Clothes.
a1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Art of Love (1709) i. 38 Let not your Teeth be yellow, or be foul; Nor in wide Shoes your Feet too loosly roul.
1767 tr. D. Cranz Hist. Greenland I. iii. i. 138 The mothers, and children's nurses or waiters, put on an amaut, i.e. a garment that is so wide in the back as to hold the child.
2.
a. Extending over or affecting a large physical space or region; far-reaching, far-ranging, extensive. Formerly chiefly poetic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > spreading or diffusion > [adjective] > spread or diffused > widely
wideOE
rampanta1540
widespread1582
cheverel1583
worldwide1602
broada1616
ubiquitary1652
wide-spreading1655
broadcast1785
country-wide1845
statewide1848
nationwide1891
planetwide1920
OE Beowulf (2008) 877 He fram Sigemunde[s] secgan hyrde ellendædum, uncuþes fela, Wælsinges gewin, wide siðas, þara þe gumena bearn gearwe ne wiston.
OE Christ & Satan 188 Þæs ðe ic geþohte adrifan drihten of selde,..sceal [ic] nu wreclastas settan sorhgcearig, sidas [read siðas] wide.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 24991 He es tald alsua o sight sa wide, þat fra his sight mai naman hide.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. ix. sig. I3 They [sc. the winds]..tosse the deepes, and teare the firmament, And all the world confound with wide vprore. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 116 He [sc. a snake] rages in the Fields, and wide Destruction threats. View more context for this quotation
1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 62 Th' expatiated Downs Shall wider Scenes display of rural Glee.
1780 J. Walters Poems 53 The British Argo..Tells her wide wanderings, and her hero's fame.
1818 J. Keats Endymion ii. 67 O woodland Queen,..Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos Of thy disparted nymphs?
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun II. viii. 91 After wide wanderings through the valley [etc.].
1958 Ethics 68 225/1 The percipiency of a wide traveler.
a1986 E. W. Morse Freshwater Saga (1987) ii. 105 His wide travels by canoe in the North.
2000 Guardian 8 Jan. (Travel section) 10/6 The central crags and dales have wide views and a varied terrain.
b. As the final element in combination with nouns denoting regions, areas, organizations, etc., with the sense ‘extending over or throughout the whole area of ——; affecting or reaching the whole of ——’.See also citywide adj., Europe-wide adj., nationwide adj., statewide adj., worldwide adj., etc.company-wide, country-wide, industry-wide, planet-wide, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1845 Emancipator & Weekly Chron. (Boston) 28 May 1/4 A church with a compact, country-wide, or national organization.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xlv. 226 Not only did each of these famous whales enjoy great individual celebrity—nay, you may call it an ocean-wide renown.
1857 Knickerbocker May 526 Those grand dress balls, which have attained a Union-wide celebrity.
1914 Railway Age Gaz. 7 Aug. 247/1 Others..are supposed to..bring up any subjects that would be likely to prove of system-wide interest.
1952 W. J. Miller Introd. Hist. Geol. (ed. 6) x. 87 At present no such subdivision into series or systems has a world-wide or even continent-wide application.
1993 Weekend Austral. (Brisbane) 27 Mar. 15/1 Jerome ‘Beyond Beef’ Rifkin..is organising an America-wide boycott of Campbell products.
2016 Church Times 5 Feb. 14/4 The work is an ecumenical town-wide initiative.
†3. Considerable in amount, degree, quality, or intensity. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective]
mickleeOE
wideOE
largec1300
greata1325
muchc1330
mightyc1390
millionc1390
dreicha1400
rudea1450
massive1581
massy1588
heavy1728
magnitudinous1777
powerful1800
almighty1824
tall1842
hefty1930
honking1943
mondo1968
OE Exodus 428 Ne behwylfan mæg heofon and eorðe his wuldres word, widdra and siddra þonne befæðman mæge foldan sceattas, eorðan ymbhwyrft and uprodor.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 2200 Þis nembrot wit his mikel pride Wend to wyrk wondres wide.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Physician's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 112 Fame out sproong on euery syde Bothe of hir beautee and hir bountee wyde.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1970 For wella wide ware þe wele.., Bathe þi glorie & þi grace þi gladnes in erthe, Miȝt þou þe marches of Messedoyne mayntene þi-selfe.
c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 110 (MED) iiij is to narow..it is necessarye to resolue moral vertues into a widder noumbre, so þat þilk nowmbre be not ouer large, but compendiose, and in a meene bitwixe to schort and to long.
a1500 (a1400) Sir Cleges (Adv.) (1930) l 93 (MED) He thowȝt..howe he hade his maners sold And his renttis wyde.
1568 A. Scott Poems (1896) xxxvi. 62 Lowse thow my lippis, that tyme and tyd I may gif to the lovingis wyd.
4.
a. Having great scope or reach; encompassing, including, affecting, or spread among a large number or variety of people or things; comprehensive; diverse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > condition or state of being inclusive > [adjective] > inclusive or comprehensive
largea1400
wide1534
capable1592
inclusive1604
comprehensive1614
all-comprehensive1650
complexive1654
diffused1658
comprehensional1673
perileptic1678
all-encompassing1805
unexcluding1822
widish1845
all-embracing1847
unexclusive1852
all-inclusive1858
broad1872
embracive1897
periscopic1912
wide-angle1932
umbrella1949
1534 R. Whittington tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces i. sig. D.4* Therfore ryseth the large and wyde prayse by rhetoriciens, of Marathon [L. Hinc rhetorum campus de Marathone].
1657 T. Stanley Psalterium Carolinum sig. N Let thy wide Mercy me, and them infold.
1670 J. Milton Hist. Brit. ii. 77 These perpetual exploits abroad won him wide fame.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia II. iii. vi. 91 I fear the misfortunes of Mr. Belfield have spread a ruin wider than his own.
1797 E. Malone in J. Reynolds Wks. I. p. xxxv In the historical department [of pictures] he took a wider range.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 106 There is yet a wide field for useful experiment.
1868 J. T. Nettleship Ess. Browning's Poetry i. 54 How to use each his own and his mistresses' attributes for the widest good.
1895 Bookman Oct. 15/1 [His] wide experience as a teacher..and an inspector of schools.
1910 Times 26 Nov. 15/3 Through his volumes on ‘Theism’ and ‘Anti-theistic Theories’..Professor Flint appealed to a wider audience.
1936 J. Agate Diary 27 Sept. in Selective Ego (1976) 48 F. Y.'s interests are very wide, and he can write equally well about church organs and flying.
1992 Food Entertaining Summer 23/2 (advt.) A wide variety of food is prepared on the chopping board.
2016 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 31 Jan. 2 Web-footed geckos communicate with a wide range of sounds.
b. Of a word, description, etc.: having a broad range of meaning or application; general, loose; inexplicit, vague.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [adjective] > vague or inexplicit
oblique?a1475
overthwart1545
indirect1584
slenting1642
undeterminate1649
vaguea1661
wide1662
indeterminate1773
unexplicit1775
nebulose1799
imprecise1805
misty1816
nebulous1817
inexplicit1827
fuzzy1937
soft-focused1942
wifty-wafty1943
1662 D. Burston Εὐαγγελιστης ἐτι εὐαγγελιζομενος 206 Others..who might otherwise loose themselves..in the wide term all.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 288 Though his Verses are most Elegant,..yet the description is very wide.
1703 tr. S. von Pufendorf Of Law of Nature & Nations i. 10 The Latin word Jus is a very wide and ambiguous term.
1781 Parl. Reg. 1781–96 II. 115 The terms..were too vague, and too indefinite... What then would they be able to make of such a wide description?
1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 14 I want a definition of art wide enough to include all its varieties of aim.
1858 M. A. Paul Uncle Ralph xxii. 225 ‘Never is a wide word, Miriam,’ said Ailie.
1904 Solicitors' Jrnl. 8 Oct. 761/2 Litigation will be resorted to to determine whether the very wide definition of ‘street’ in section 4..is to be cut down in its application to bye-laws.
1947 Jrnl. Philos. 44 428 Knowledge. In current employment this word is too wide and vague to be a name of anything in particular.
2005 D. K. Das Asian. Econ. & Finance vii. 266 Monetary co-operation is a deceptively wide term covering a large spectrum of policy strands.
c. Characterized by breadth of opinion or feeling; (also) characterized by liberal-mindedness; tolerant, unprejudiced, broad-minded. Cf. broad adj. 11a.Formerly also in Wide Church: = Broad Church n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > high intelligence, genius > [adjective] > of mind, operations: broad, deep, strong
stronga1393
profounda1450
reachinga1500
ingenious1509
spacious1609
vast1610
vigorous1640
rugged1678
wide1717
broad1832
oceanica1834
in depth1959
1717 J. Hunt Funeral Serm. 26 The large and wide view he had of the Sacred Writings, must render him greatly accomplish'd for this Part of the Ministerial Office.
1763 J. Mills & T. Blackwell Mem. Court Augustus III. xi. 61 This Observation is taken from Fact, and a wide View of human Affairs.
1824 T. B. Macaulay Athen. Orators ⁋22 States have always been best governed by men who have taken a wide view of public affairs.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 124 When, wide in soul and bold of tongue, Among the tents I paused and sung.
1884 Spectator 19 Apr. 513/2 Both the High Churchman and the Wide Churchman.
1884 Spectator 19 Apr. 513/2 The Wide Church or High-Church circles.
1976 Ld. Home Way Wind Blows viii. 135 He was credited with a wide and liberal outlook on human affairs.
1990 Independent 28 Sept. 15 He..was a man greatly liked for his wide views.
2009 Sun (Nexis) 26 Mar. 11 The kind who believe they have a wide view on life, but who are in truth more narrow-minded than most stereotypical bigots.
II. Senses relating to measurement from side to side.
5. Having great extent from side to side; of large or more than average width. Opposed to narrow.Used where actual measurement from point to point is possible or contemplated, and thus now distinguished from broad, which tends to refer more generally to superficial extent.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxv. 484 He [sc. Noes arc] wæs on nyþeweardan wid, & on ufweardan nearo.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) vii. 13 Þæt geat is swyþe wid [L. lata porta] & se weg is swiþe rum þe to forspillednesse gelæt.
lOE Bounds (Sawyer 354) in M. Gelling Place-names Berks. (1976) III. 756 Ðonon to widan geate, ðonon to eadulfes mære.
?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) l. 146 (MED) Hi ladden Iosep into..stretes wide & long.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. cxxvii. 1367 Piramis is a figure..wyde byneþe and streight aboue.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 1682 Þu sal..Mak a dor wit mesur wide.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 797 Euery sercle causynge other Wydder than hym self was.
a1500 (?a1400) Firumbras (1935) l. 120 (MED) The dyche lay wyde & depe.
1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 33 Shallow Brooks, and Rivers wide.
1655 M. Casaubon Treat. Enthusiasme ii. 84 He was so big of body, that no door was wide enough for him.
1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. i. 173 A purple carpet spread the pavement wide.
1762 W. Smellie Treat. Midwifery (ed. 4) I. 81 The brim of the Pelvis is wider from side to side than from the back to the fore-part.
1830 La Belle Assemblee Jan. 27/2 She..is obliged to place her head sideways to ascend her carriage, her head-dress being wider than the pannels of her coach-door.
1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 156 Wide measures, long and wide measures of type, distinct from narrow or short ones.
1910 S. Sisson Text-bk. Vet. Anat. 720 The cerebellum is very wide and short.
1981 G. Vidal Creation ii. ii. 35 The new palace of Darius is approached by a wide straight avenue.
2006 R. Downie Medicus lxvi. 298 The wide bed was strewn with plump blue cushions.
6. Measuring a width specified by a numerical quantity or indicated by a comparison.
a. With a (usually premodifying) noun phrase consisting of a noun denoting a measure of width premodified by a numeral or quantifier. Also forming part of such a phrase used attributively (e.g. a two metre wide hole) or introduced by of (e.g. a hole of two metres wide).In Old English with the measure (and sometimes also the numeral) in the genitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > [adjective] > having specific breadth or width
wideOE
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) i. 185 Wyrc þe nu ænne arc, þreo hund fæðma lang, & fifti fæðma wid, & þritig fæðma heah.
OE Genesis A (1931) 1307 Þu þær [prob. read þæt] fær gewyrc fiftiges wid, ðrittiges heah [and] þreohund lang elngemeta.
a1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Vitell.) (1966) l. 226 Hondred teyse þe tour is heie..& an hundret teyse hit is wid.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 565 Ðat arche was...l.ti elne wid and .xxx.ti heg.
c1440 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 110 An aker lond..therout of may be tolde Of squaris x feet wide,..ccc square of x, and twyes twelue.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iv. xxxvi. f. lxxxiv A traylyng gowne of twelue yerdes wyde.
?1578 W. Patten Let. Entertainm. Killingwoorth 11 Upon the first payr of Posts wear set, too cumly square wyre Cages, each a three foot long, too foot wide & hy.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 11 A Bed-chamber..Thirty foot wide.
1699 Cal. Virginia State Papers I. 64 We came to a broad Branch of about fifty or sixty yards wide.
1707 J. Barker Treasury of Fortification 248 The Bridges of the Body of the Place, are generally from 14 to 16 Feet wide.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (1793) 442 Every cartway leading to any market-town must be made twenty feet wide at the least.
1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 637 Take half-inch and two-inch wide rods or laths.
1854 Poultry Chron. 1 228 New twine netting..one yard wide.
1869 Amer. Jrnl. Insanity 25 376 A passage of six feet wide.
1913 Independent 21 Aug. 426/2 I stood..looking down into a quarter-mile wide hole.
1969 D. F. Costello Prairie World (1975) iii. 54 North of this lies the boreal forest in a belt up to 500 miles wide.
2014 New Yorker 21 Apr. 49/2 A giant rectangle..nearly two miles long and four hundred and ninety feet wide.
b. Expressing relative width: having (more, less, or a specified) extent from side to side.
ΚΠ
OE Blickling Homilies 127 Þonne is þær on þære myclan ciricean geworht emb þa lastas utan [sc. an enclosure], hwene widdre þonne bydenfæt, up oþ mannes breost heah.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 7397 Grante..me..no more lond, wide no side, þan I may sprede a boles hide.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1324 Þurȝe þaim he rynnes, And makis a wai wyde enoȝe waynes to mete.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Sept. 210 Had his wesand bene a little widder, He would haue deuoured both hidder and shidder.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. i. 96 Not so deepe as a Well, nor so wide as a barne doore.
1651 J. French Art Distillation iii. 84 The Ash-hole..must be as wide as the Furnace.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 19 Windowes..must be higher then wide.
1701 Philos. Trans. 1700–1 (Royal Soc.) 22 808 The hole..which seem'd to me..to be twice as wide as the entrance.
1761 W. Osmer Treat. Dis. & Lameness Horses (new ed.) 39 The iron should be very narrow, little wider than a plate.
1884 L. F. Allen New Amer. Farm Bk. 103 The depth of the furrow should be about one-half its width, and the land or ridges as wide as can conveniently be made.
1893 C. Hodges in Reliquary Jan. 9 The side walls..are built of large stones, as wide as the walls are thick.
1917 Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 43 82 Head as wide as the thorax.
1954 R. Wailes Eng. Windmill iii. 38 The original stage..was made entirely of timber, and was wider than the present one.
2006 K. D. Rose Beginning Age Mammals ix. 151/1 The humerus is as wide as it is long.
III. Senses relating to a large interval, space, or difference between things or people.
7.
a. Opened widely or to the full extent; expanded; (of the arms) stretched widely apart. Now chiefly of the eyes, often implying surprise, amazement, alarm, etc.In many contexts generally superseded by wide open adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > [adjective] > wide open or gaping
yawningc893
wideOE
wide open?c1225
gap-wide1582
gaping1594
mouthed1609
patulous1616
wide-opened1635
dehiscent1649
discontinuous1667
patulent1712
hiant1800
yawn-mouthed1861
the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of stretching body > [adjective] > specific part of body
extent1436
outstretched1535
wide1707
outflung1830
outheld1872
the world > space > relative position > posture > position of specific body parts > [adjective] > arm or hand > specific arm
wreathed1584
wide1707
kimboed1748
hyperabducted1945
OE Whale 59 Hi þær in farað unware weorude, oþþæt se wida ceafl gefylled bið.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Royal) (1934) 21 He..sturede toward tis meoke meiden, & ȝeonede mid his wide geneow uppon hire ungeinliche.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 160 Ȝef þe keache cuppe wellinde bres to drinken ȝeot in his wide þrote.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. viii. xxvii. 506 (MED) Holes and pores of þe body ben open and wide bycause of hete of þe ayer.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 115, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Wid(e Make þe pacientes nose þrilles wider with þe rote of genciane oþer wiþ a spounge.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 50 Ȝit tuk I neuer the wosp clene out of my wyde throte.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccccxlixv That a wyder entrie be not set open to ye Turkes to inuade vs.
1607 ‘W. S.’ Puritaine i. 12 Speake lowe George; Prison Rattes haue wider eares then those in Malt-lofts.
1611 Bible (King James) Isa. lvii. 4 Against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 762 All access was throng'd, the Gates And Porches wide . View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 467 Wide was the wound, But suddenly with flesh fill'd up & heal'd. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 109 The Mares..with wide Nostrils snuff the Western Air. View more context for this quotation
1707 E. Smith Phædra & Hippolytus i. 1 She from his wide, deceiv'd, desiring Arms Flew tastless.
1741 R. Rawlin Christ Righteousness of his People ii. 55 What a wide door would this open to the most licentious practices.
1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 85 Many a door was wide.
1822 J. Galt Provost xxxvi. 260 With wide and wild arms, like a witch in a whirlwind.
1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason xv. 289 The three..gazed at him with wide eyes wondering.
1912 Sat. Evening Post 17 Aug. 21/3 The leader sprang at me with wide arms.
1921 J. Goodwin Man with Brooding Eyes xxvii. 353 Joan..picked up one of the notes. She stared at it with wide eyes.
2010 C. Rush Grandfather Tree vii. 121 She..watched with wide eyes the firestorm in front of her.
b. Phonetics. Of a vowel sound: pronounced with the muscles involved (esp. those of the tongue) in a relatively relaxed state; pronounced with a relatively wide opening of the mouth or (now esp.) of the pharyngeal cavity. Cf. lax adj. 5c, open adj. 13a. Opposed to narrow adj. 1d.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > types of
openeOE
sharp?1533
simple1582
small1599
soft1625
obscurea1637
round1710
slender1755
close1760
wide1824
lowered1836
narrow1844
labialized1856
orinasal1856
central1857
reduced1861
free1864
high1867
low1867
mid1867
mixed1867
rounded1867
unrounded1871
raised1876
unreduced1894
obscured1897
spread1902
lax1909
slack1909
tense1909
centralized1926
flat1934
r-coloured1935
checked1943
1824 T. Martin Philol. Gram. Eng. Lang. vii. 94 In the word parasol, the vowel is wide.
1867 A. M. Bell Visible Speech: Sci. Universal Alphabetics 72 The vowels—whether ‘Primary’, ‘Wide’, or ‘Rounded’—are divided into three classes of palato-lingual formations.
1890 H. Sweet Primer Spoken Eng. 4 Each of the vowels..is either narrow or wide, according as the tongue and uvula are tense..or relaxed.
1949 R.-M. S. Heffner Gen. Phonetics v. 96 Later scholars have substituted the terms tense and lax for narrow and wide.
1999 H. van der Hulst et al. in H. van der Hulst Word Prosodic Syst. in Langs. of Europe vii. 451 The Mokshan dialect of Mordvin has two groups of vowels that behave differently with respect to accent: the ‘narrow’ vowels (/i u ə/) and the ‘wide’ vowels (/e o ä a/).
2016 O. G. Harry in O.-M. Ndimele Stud. Nigerian Linguistics 216 For the wide vowels the tongue root is drawn forward allowing for a wide space in the pharyngeal cavity.
8.
a. Of two or more things: set far apart; widely spaced. Also of a thing: having widely-spaced constituent elements.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adjective] > far apart (of boundaries)
wide?a1425
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Hunterian) (1994) 43 (MED) Þey resseiuen þe roundenes off þe bones off þe hande towarde þe hande, and þei ben..moste wide [L. grossiora] where þei haue moste sinewes and brawnes.
?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 456 (MED) Drawe hom [sc. dates and milk] thurgh a streynour that is wyde.
?c1450 in G. J. Aungier Hist. & Antiq. Syon Monastery (1840) 272 (MED) The body..schal be leyed upon the bere, and couered withe a cheste, made in maner of a wyde latyce, that the body may be seen.
c1484 (a1475) J. de Caritate tr. Secreta Secret. (Takamiya) (1977) 201 (MED) He þat hath wyde pasis in his gate and slow schal be prosperus in hys werkys.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) ix. f. 110v Thou seeist mee a Lord of waters in thy Realme Where I in wyde and wynding banks doo beare my flowing streame.
1595 R. Parry Moderatus viii. sig. L2v The fluent streame that leades a swelling tyde, When Aquilon the raging waues doeth reare, Bounce not more oft vpon their bankes so wyde.
1635 W. Saltonstall tr. G. Mercator Historia Mundi 368 Thee Druentia that doth glide With winding course betweene his bancks so wide.
1691 tr. ‘C. Reinking’ Πολιτικός Μέγας iii. 7 They marched their Army along the Valleys, and then finding the Banks of the River become wide, must of Necessity be at more trouble to make Bridges over them.
1732 J. Horsley Britannia Romana 118 These castella seem to have stood closest, where the stations are widest, and are by some modern authors called mile castles or milliary castella.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. i. 38 It runs between green banks which grow wider and wider until at last it joins the broad vast sea.
1882 Chambers's Jrnl. 29 July 479/2 Nets of a wider mesh than those presently in use should be made compulsory, so that only large herring be captured.
1948 M. Mclaverty Three Brothers iv. 53 He took wide steps across the damp floor.
1972 J. Fisher Guide to Needlecraft iv. 78/2 A wide mesh gives only a few threads or holes to the inch, and is useful for big-scale work.
2010 C. X. Bowman Orvis Guide beginning Saltwater Fly Fishing x. 30 Rocky mountain streams with wider banks, where if you can get midstream you have plenty of room.., allow rods up to eight feet long.
b. figurative. Cribbage. Of playing cards: far apart in a series. Somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > continuity or uninterruptedness > discontinuity or interrupted condition > [adjective] > not consecutive > too far apart to form a series
wide?1870
?1870 F. Hardy & J. R. Ware Mod. Hoyle 85 Endeavor to balk his crib by discarding wide cards, so that he may not be able to form a sequence.
1897 R. F. Foster Compl. Hoyle 414 Cards which are likely to form parts of sequences are called close cards, and those which are too widely separated to do so are called wide cards.
1977 Encycl. Americana VIII. 187/1 If one player has close cards he should play so as to have chances for a run; but if his cards are wide, then he should try to keep the opponent from scoring.
1983 R. L. Frey According to Hoyle (new ed.) 69 When nothing better offers, give two wide cards—at least three apart in rank.
†9. Situated a considerable distance away; distant, far off. Chiefly with of or from: situated at a specified distance from. Obsolete.In quot. 1590: held at a distance, not close.Only in predicative use or following the noun, and thus approaching wide adv. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adjective]
sideOE
fara1000
ferrenc1160
lungeteync1330
on dreicha1400
yondera1413
widec1425
roomc1443
lontaignec1450
remote1533
distant1549
remotedc1580
disloigned1596
discoasted1598
dissite1600
far-off1600
aloof1608
longinque1614
distantial1648
Atlantic1790
far-distant1793
far-away1816
far-apart1865
way off1871
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 362 (MED) Priam had, of birthe..Cassandra..Of whom þe fame sprang in costys wyde.
c1450 Siege Calais (Rome) in PMLA (1952) 67 890 (MED) The Duc of Burgone..Made grete assemble in landes wide.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms cii[i]. 12 Look how wyde the east is from the west, so farre hath he set oure synnes from vs.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. viii. sig. T7v His poynant speare he thrust..At proud Cymochles, whiles his shield was wyde.
1597 J. Dee 28 Sept. in Private Diary (1842) 59 Calcot in Chesshyre, abowt six myles wide of Chester.
1682 O. Heywood Autobiogr., Diaries, Anecd. & Event Bks. (1885) IV. 76 A place..4 miles wide of St. Albans.
1729 J. Swift Hist. 2nd Solomon in Wks. (1765) VIII. i. 253 He was to set out..to another part of the kingdom, thirty miles wide of the place appointed.
1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman IV. vi. 81 Kestever, two Miles wide of Saffron-Walden in Essex.
1854 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross (new ed.) xxxvi. 281 Shortstubble put him on a line as wide of his own wheat as he could.
10. Chiefly in predicative use.
a. With of, from. That deviates from what is correct, desired, or intended; far from something in nature, character, outlook, etc.; divergent from, or not in accordance or agreement with, something; very different or alien to something. Also: †far from doing something (obsolete).Often understood as a figurative use of sense 11a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > disharmony or incongruity > [adjective]
discordablea1393
discordanta1393
discordinga1398
incongruea1398
inconvenient1398
unaccording1398
discordc1415
disagreeablea1425
inconsutilec1450
unaccordanta1470
dissonant1490
disaccordanta1513
disagreeing?1526
incongruent1531
wide1531
unconsonant1535
dissonate1548
dissenting1550
dissident?c1550
unagreeable?1550
disconformc1554
discrepant1556
absonant1564
dissentany1586
disconsorted1589
disagreed1596
discordous1597
discordious1598
incorrespondent1599
dissentious1605
untunable1605
incongruous1611
unagreeing1611
unanswerable1611
eccentric1612
unconcurrent1613
disconsonant1614
dissentaneous1623
dissorting1631
uncorrespondent1631
discorrespondent1635
incoincident1636
unconcurring1639
eccentrical1640
unatonable1645
incompliant1647
pluranimous1650
disconformeda1658
inagreeable1657
inconsonant1658
disharmonious1659
inconcinn1660
discongruous1663
unharmonious1667
discoherent1675
uncongruous1709
inharmonious1749
immutual1768
unharmonized1803
unconsentaneous1818
inaccordant1822
uncorresponding1826
unharmonizing1851
non-concurring1866
discordful1867
disharmonic1887
non-concurrent1907
1531 Bp. W. Barlow Dyaloge Lutheran Faccyons sig. q I se the lyuynge of the clergye is farre wyde from the doctrine of Cryst & example of thappostles.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes Pref. **vv Valerius Maximus and Plinius, in the reportyng of a certain alter[c]acion yt was betwene Cn. Domitius & Lucius Crassus.., how wyde been thei the one from the other.
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer ii. sig. K.iiii It seemeth a matter very wide from reason.
?1566 W. P. tr. C. S. Curio Pasquine in Traunce f. 34v They are so farre wyde from the institution of Christ, & from the truth.
1601 J. Marston et al. Iacke Drums Entertainm. ii. sig. C3v Those that are farre more yong and wittie, Are wide from singing such a Dittie.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. vii. 28 How wide he is from truth. View more context for this quotation
1691 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) V. 72 The Relation he gave..was very wide from what we fancied.
1711 in Hist. MSS Comm.: 10th Rep.: App. Pt. V: MSS Marquis of Ormonde &c. (1885) 112 in Parl. Papers 1884–5 (C. 4576-I) XLII. 1 A lasting happiness, of which they are wide..thro' want of religion.
1735 G. Berkeley Def. Free-thinking in Math. §46 Your Comment must be wide of the Author's meaning.
1796 F. Burney Camilla IV. viii. xi. 399 Conduct as mischievous in its effects, and as wide from artlessness in its appearance, as if she had been brought up and nourished in fashionable egotism.
1807 J. Bentham Mem. & Corr. in Wks. (1843) X. 423 My own notions..were too wide of the notions prevalent among lawyers.
1812 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Paradiso viii. 136 Hence befals That Esau is so wide of Jacob.
1845 C. Dickens Cricket on Hearth iii. 134 You had best not interrupt me..till you understand me; and you're wide of doing so.
1904 A. Heilprin Tower of Pelée 53 Interesting conjectural results, the verity of which..may be very wide of the real truth.
1995 W. D. Jordan Tumult & Silence at Second Creek (rev. ed.) x. 195 The Reverend Mr. Ingraham's remarks on this matter reflected conventional wisdom as to what ought to be happening on Sundays, and seem very wide of actual practice in Adams County.
2011 Daily Mail (Nexis) 30 Nov. Svetlana..was reported to have converted to Roman Catholicism and become a nun... I discovered that this was some way wide of the truth.
†b. Not in accordance with the proper or desirable order of society, morality, etc.; inappropriate, unsuitable, improper. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > [adjective] > amiss, out of order
amissc1325
out of harrea1327
wronga1425
wide1545
misplaced1563
awrya1586
ajar1807
off the rails1848
agley1882
blooey1920
off-centre1930
off base1940
snafued1944
off target1954
off beam1958
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus i. sig. K.iii So is he best of all pleased, to se thinges which be wyde and amysse, brought to peace and attonement.
1583 G. Gifford Catechisme sig. A7 Q: Yee conclude then, that..the actions of the diuel and al the wicked, are measured and directed by his [sc. God's] prouidence... A: Or els it were wide with vs.
1606 H. Holland & E. Topsell Hist. Adam iii. f. 129 The very Diuels are chained continuallie by his prouidence, or else it were wide with vs all on earth.
1614 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. II. O.T. vi. 211 It were wide for vs, if our suites [to God] should be euer heard.
1614 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. II. O.T. viii. 379 It would bee wide with the best of vs, if the eye of God should looke backward to our former estate.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Ezra (Psalms xiii. 3) 601 It were wide with the faithfull, if they had not their God to repair unto in distresse, pouring out their souls into his blessed bosome.
†c. Far from the truth; that errs in opinion or belief; mistaken. Obsolete.In quot. 1608 perhaps: wandering in mind, delirious.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > error in belief or opinion > [adjective] > erring in opinion or belief
mislevingc1390
erroneous1512
mismeaning1532
errorious1543
wide1547
deceived1569
errant1609
mislearned1642
pseudodoxalc1648
pseudodox1650
vicious1657
heterodox1658
1547 I. B. Bryefe & Plaine Declaracion sig. a. iii I am sure ther is no man so farre wyde as once to thynke that the Apostles were here in commaunded to preache vnto Infantes.
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer i. sig. F.iiiiv Whoso heareth him, maye..thinke that he also with very litle a doe, mighte attaine to that perfection, but whan he commeth to the proofe shall finde himselfe farre wide.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 140/2 Let vs see if this be well practised, alas, the matter is farre wide [Fr. Helas il s'en faut beaucoup].
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xxi. 48 Lear. Yar a spirit I know, where did you dye. Cord. Still, still, farre wide . View more context for this quotation
1630 G. Hakewill Apologie (ed. 2) (advt.) sig. Zz2v How farre wide the foure most noted doctours of the Westerne Church..were in the exposition of many passages of holy Scripture.
a1652 R. Brome City Wit v. sig. F7v, in Five New Playes (1653) Py. I know your purpose..; you come after the Marriage to forbid the banes... Lin. Good Mrs. Sneakup, you are wide. I come to wish joy to the match.
1694 tr. Terence Fair Andrian ii, in Terence's Comedies 16 No, no, you're wide.
1830 H. W. Montagu Monsieur Mallét 13 The Frenchman heard with pain The words ‘dead-letters’... ‘Are doze den, sare, “de letters of de dead?”’ ‘Hi! hi!—you're wide!’ said Jerry with a leer: ‘Erronous wide!’
11.
a. Of a shot, throw, etc.: that misses to one side of a point aimed at (by a large distance); at a (large) distance to one side of an intended or correct target. Also in figurative contexts, esp. in wide of (also †from) the mark at mark n.1 23b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > bowls or bowling > [adjective] > wide of mark
widea1535
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. xvi. sig. D.i.v That laste bolte I thincke loe, that syth I saye the same my self, you be content to take vp, it lyeth so farre wyde.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. i. 132 Wide a the bow hand, yfaith your hand is out. View more context for this quotation
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xii. 70 If the Shot be both wide and too low.
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Wide, when the Biass of the Bowl holds not enough.
1784 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 917/2 Thrown too close, the shots your hopes elude, Wide of your aim, and innocent of blood.
1854 Dublin Univ. Mag. Jan. 67/1 He was not a skilful fencer... His guards were all wide, and his eyes unsteady.
1868 Amer. Phrenological Jrnl. Apr. 164/1 There was..little probability of his being suddenly upset by a wide ball from the ‘pitcher's’ hand.
1911 U.S. Naval Inst. Proc. Dec. 1233 Warning guns were fired from the fort; the first shots were wide.
1965 A. S. Byatt Shadow of Sun (1991) v. 118 She threw the wet ball at him, all anyhow. ‘That was wide,’ said Jeremy. ‘You're losing your touch.’
2014 J. Stockwin Pasha v. 140 They were now headed for the safety of the open sea and the next shots were wide.
b. Cricket. Designating a delivery judged to have been bowled too wide for the batter to hit from where he or she stands to receive the ball and from a normal guard position, for which a run is awarded to the batting side. Frequently in wide ball. Cf. wide n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [adjective] > given direction towards a mark > deviating from the aim
wide1827
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > change of direction of movement > [adjective] > deviating from straight course
wrongc1440
swerving1534
wrya1586
wriedc1595
diverted1608
dissilient1656
deviatory1702
out-of-the-waya1732
tangent1787
wide1827
deflected1860
tangential1867
deviative1878
deviating1883
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [adjective] > types of delivery or ball
wide1827
shooting1833
full-pitched1834
bumping1851
overpitched1855
hand over head1862
bumpy1864
right arm1877
breaking1881
fast-breaking1893
leg-breaking1896
hittable1898
off-breaking1904
inswinging1920
underpitched1927
outswinging1929
1827 Brighton Gaz. 20 Sept. Kent..Wide balls 4, byes 1.
1828 Bell's Life in London 15 June 4/1 The umpire..shall adjudge one run to the striker..which shall be put down to the score of wide balls.
1837 Huntingdon, Bedford, & Peterborough Gaz. 5 Aug. 7/5 The fielding, on the part of Sussex, was so beautiful during the first innings, that the Nottingham men scored neither wide balls, byes, nor no ball.
1853 ‘C. Bede’ Adventures Mr. Verdant Green xi. 101 The first ball was ‘wide’.
1901 F. Presbrey et al. Athletics at Princeton 559/2 Leg Byes 0 Wide Balls 4.
1943 Yorkshire Evening Post 15 Dec. 4/5 Otley made 251 for 8, byes contributing 25 and wide balls 25 to the total.
1987 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 2 Jan. 1 Botham..mauled 26 off Simon Davis's eighth over—4, 4, 2, 4, wide ball, 6, 6.
2006 Daily Mail (Nexis) 10 June 104 Ahmed, a 20-year-old fast bowler, was called into the attack. His first delivery was wide but his next removed Jayasuriya.
12. Extending far between two notional limits; (of a difference, variation, etc., between two or more people or things) very large, considerable.See also to give a wide berth to at berth n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adjective] > extending far between limits
wide1563
1563 L. Humphrey Nobles or of Nobilitye sig. o.iv Theyr enemyes laughe and tryumphe, for so wyde gappe opened to spoyle them.
1578 T. Twyne tr. L. Daneau Wonderfull Woorkmanship of World xlii. f.83v There is a threefolde, and that most large & wide difference between them.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. ix. 68 Bycause your concordes containe the chief part of Musicke in your meetre, their distaunces may not be too wide or farre a sunder.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) v. vi. 194 The wide difference 'Twixt Amorous, and Villanous. View more context for this quotation
1646 T. Edwards 3rd Pt. Gangræna 7 I put a wide difference between a simple pure Independent, yea a simple Anabaptist,..and between an Arian, Antitrinitarian, Antiscripturist, Perfectist.
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub vi. 125 At every Period duely comparing the Doctrine with the Practice, there was never seen a wider Difference between two Things.
1746 W. Dunkin tr. Horace in P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Epistles ii. ii. 293 The wide Distinction..Between an open, hospitable Man, And Prodigal; the Frugalist secure, And Miser, pinch'd with Penury.
1857 W. A. Miller Elements Chem.: Org. (1862) i. §2. 49 The wider is the interval between the respective places in the series.
1865 J. Ruskin Sesame & Lilies ii. 161 There is a wide difference between elementary knowledge and superficial knowledge.
1912 Daily Tel. 19 Dec. 2/3 Among foreign railways,..after some wide fluctuations San Paulo finished at a substantial improvement.
1944 Sun (Baltimore) 20 May 12/4 Wide variation occurred in prices, with the average range from $26 to $36.
1967 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 113 340/2 Dr. Pringle has interesting things to say about wide discrepancies between S.Q. and I.Q.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Dec. c5 (advt.) CBS dominated the competition with the widest margin of victory in 15 years.
13.
a. Going beyond the bounds of what is considered to be normal, acceptable, or proper; unrestrained, wild; immoderate, excessive; morally lax, loose, immoral. Cf. broad adj. 6, 8, steep adj. 5. Now somewhat rare (colloquial or slang in later use).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > [adjective]
golec888
canga1225
light?c1225
wooinga1382
nicea1387
riota1400
wantonc1400
wrenec1400
lachesc1450
loose?a1500
licentious1555
libertine1560
prostitute1569
riggish1569
wide1574
slipper1581
slippery1586
sportive1595
gay1597
Cyprian1598
suburb1598
waggish1600
smicker1606
suburbian1606
loose-living1607
wantona1627
free-living1632
libertinous1632
loose-lived1641
Corinthian1642
akolastic1656
slight1685
fast1699
freea1731
brisk1740
shy1787
slang1818
randomc1825
fastish1832
loosish1846
slummya1860
velocious1872
fly1880
slack1951
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > exaggeration, hyperbole > [adjective] > of language
windya1382
wide1574
fustian1592
high-flown1632
tall1670
screamy1882
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [adjective] > excessive or too great in amount or degree > excessive in degree
unmeasurablea1398
dismeasurec1400
dismeasurable1477
dismeasured1483
over1494
endlya1513
intolerable1544
wide1574
overloading1576
unconscionable1576
meanless1587
powerable1588
hyperbolical1589
extravagant1598
grievous1632
flagrant1634
exorbitant1648
overbearinga1708
unbalanced1712
well-favoured1746
steep1856
thick1884
ripe1918
1574 J. Davidson Ane Dialog betuix Clerk & Courteour in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 307 The Courteour, with wordis wyde, Said ‘I heir nathing bot prouyde, And get now that, and get now this.’
1656 G. Collier Vindiciæ Thesium de Sabbato (new ed.) Pref. 1 Any man that hath not a weak head and a wide conscience.
1775 J. Moir Scholar's Vade Mecum Effusus, wide, open, liberal, immoderate.
1840 Amer. Advt. in A. Walker Beauty (U.S. ed.) p. ix This may seem a wide assertion. But it is no less true.
1878 Sporting Times 28 Dec. 5/3 Hammersmith... Its principal street is called the Broadway, from the ‘wide’ people who frequent it.
1895 Daily News 3 Sept. 7/5 Prices asked are very wide, and are beyond the values that merchants are disposed to give.
1902 O. Wister Virginian xiii. 148 Wide females in pink.
1928 S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 62 I certainly did feel primed for one high wide and fancy evening.
1977 New Yorker 11 July 37/1 He's such a wide person. He has so much of everything.
b. British slang. Shrewd, sharp-witted; cunning; knowledgeable or aware, esp. regarding situations which may be turned (dishonestly) to one's advantage; skilled in sharp practice, engaging in shady dealings. Cf. wide boy n. at Compounds 2, wide awake adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > cunning > [adjective] > astute
oldOE
witterc1100
pratc1175
smeighc1200
fellc1300
yap13..
far-castinga1387
parlousc1390
advisee?a1400
politic?a1439
astucec1550
political1577
astute1611
knowing1664
shrewda1684
sharp1697
leery1718
peery1721
fly1811
canny1816
flash1818
astucious1823
varmint1829
chickaleary1839
wide1879
snide1883
varminty1907
crazy like (or as) a fox1935
1869 Hunt's Yachting Mag. Apr. 188 I recollect well that many years ago in the Royal Navy, that when any youthful denizen of the cockpit, was detected in an abortive attempt at weathering any of his messmates a shout would be raised to this effect, ‘Avast there Master Wide-o, let's have none of your scrimp shanking.’]
1879 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/1 I got in company with some of the widest (cleverest) people in London.
1891 Daily News 24 Feb. 2/1 Well, she was tipsy; but she was very ‘wide’.
1897 A. R. Marshall ‘Pomes’ from Pink 'Un 8 Although she was quite the lady In deportment and dress, Were you asked as a wide-'un, ‘Shady?’ You would have to answer, ‘Yes’.
1928 E. Wallace Gunner xxviii. 226 You can handle these swells, Danty, and you're wide enough to keep yourself out of trouble.
1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad i. 13 Underworld men and women..refer to themselves as ‘wide people’ or ‘one of us’. They're a colourful, rascally lot these ‘wide 'uns’.
1956 T. Huddleston Naught for your Comfort ii. 28 He must become a ‘tsotsi’, a cosh-boy, a wide-guy—because at least there's excitement that way, while it lasts.
1976 T. Murphy Sanctuary Lamp ii. ii. 77 No, babies are wide, Har; babies are shrewd. Well, they aren't fools.
1998 I. Welsh Filth 45 He must have minded of the boy but he's no letting on. As wide as Leith Walk, that cunt.
14.
a. Cricket. Of a fielding position: lying further from the line of the stumps than usual. Chiefly premodifying the name of a more established fielding position such as mid on, slip, third man, etc.
ΚΠ
1883 Manch. Courier 23 Jan. 3/2 He gave a chance..to extra wide mid-off.
1908 Times 3 Sept. 5/1 King..was splendidly caught by Marshal, standing at wide slip, close to the wicket.
1935 Times 28 May 7/1 [He] welcomed every opportunity to drive the ball past cover-point's right hand or to turn it too thin for a wide long-leg.
1996 Times of India 22 Feb. 23/2 Brian McMillan's classic, diving back from a wide first slip to dismiss Roger Twose.
2015 S. Broad Broadside v. 124 Mo took a wonderful diving catch down at wide third man, of all places, to win the match.
b. In various team sports (esp. Association Football): designating a player who typically plays at or near the sides of the pitch or field; (also) designating such a playing position.
ΚΠ
1885 Boston Sunday Globe 27 Sept. 3/3 Fraser, third defence field, is..as efficient with the stick as with the pen. He is a wide player, but one of the most dangerous men on the team to leave uncovered.
1893 Bristol Mercury 30 Oct. 3/1 The wide position assumed by the threequarters brought down upon offending members the..rebuke of a committee man.
1931 Times 26 Oct. 5/1 Stone failed to convert this try from a wide position.
1972 Princeton Alumni Weekly 3 Oct. 31/1 The wide defenders try to force the pass receivers inside to the ‘under’ coverage.
1997 A. Wade Positional Play Midfield iv. 26 The concentration of large numbers of players in mid-field was achieved..by withdrawing one or both wide attackers.
2000 Northern Echo 6 May 25 The Quakers are without wide midfielder Neil Wainwright.
2014 H. Redknapp Man walks onto Pitch (2015) v. 297 The forwards would all disappear, Henry to the left, Bergkamp upfield, Robert Pirès and Freddie Ljungberg to wide midfield.

Phrases

at widest: at or to the broadest or fullest point or extent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > [phrase] > extended to the widest
at widesta1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. i. 57 Though euery drop of water sweare against it, And gape at widst to glut him. View more context for this quotation
1670 J. Ogilby Africa 284 Biledulgerid, or Numidia, reckons in length six hundred miles, in breadth where at widest, three and fifty.
1671 J. Torbuck tr. in Ημέραι παρ᾽ Ημέρας iii. 62 By stretching out of both arms at widest, he shews forth most gracious proffers of embracing both Jews and Gentiles.
1769 T. Gray Let. 18 Oct. in Poems (1775) 354 It is nine miles long; and at widest under a mile in breadth.
1833 R. Chambers & W. Chambers Gazetteer Scotl. (new ed.) I. 253/2 It extends ten miles in length from north-west to south-east, by a breadth of about four miles at widest.
1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 150/2 Every algebraical result is of the form a+b√(–1) at widest, or may be reduced to that form.
1896 R. Ward Rec. Big Game 270/1 Girth at widest over hump... 9 [ft.] 4 [in.].
1942 A. Stone Fruitflies of Genus Anastrepha (Misc. Publ. U.S. Dept. Agric. No. 439) 15 Ovipositor slender, the tip at widest about 0.07 mm. wide.
2009 Jrnl. Paleontol. 83 932/1 Prothorax heart-shaped, embossed, 7.3 mm long, 6.9 at widest.

Compounds

C1.
a.
(a) Parasynthetic.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.
ΚΠ
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) xiv. f. 184v Vp the hygh wyde windowde house in saying so, shee ran [L. patulis iniit tectum..fenestris].
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. i. 54 This wide-chopt-rascall.
1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales Chaucer 122 She was gap-tooth'd, or wide-spaced.
1680 London Gaz. No. 1527/4 Open wide-kneed Breeches.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. xiii. 506 At his side a wretched scrip was hung, Wide-patch'd, and knotted to a twisted thong.
1788 W. Cowper Gratitude 11 This wheel-footed studying chair,..Wide-elbow'd, and wadded with hair.
1807 J. Barlow Columbiad iii. 131 The wide-beak'd hawk, that now beholds me die, Soon with his cowering train my flesh shall tear.
1830 W. Scott Ivanhoe (new ed.) I. i. 7 Short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks.
1838 E. B. Barrett Seraphim & Other Poems 189 Wide-petalled plants.
1848 T. A. Buckley tr. Homer Iliad 23 The wide-wayed city of the Trojans.
1856 J. G. Whittier Poet. Wks. (1898) 353/1 Pacific rolls his waves a-land, From many a wide-lapped port and land-locked bay.
1874 J. H. Parker Introd. Study Gothic Archit. (ed. 4) i. i. 11 Wide-jointed masonry is a usual characteristic of the eleventh century in England and Normandy.
a1878 G. G. Scott Lect. Mediæval Archit. (1879) I. 65 Wide-spanned arches.
1903 R. Kipling Five Nations 73 Beside wide-banked Ouse.
1990 D. Ackerman Nat. Hist. Senses i. 14 The wide-spirited poet Lucretius.
2011 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 10 Mar. 26/2 Two long, wide-bladed knives.
(b)
wide-arched adj.
ΚΠ
1820 J. Keats Lamia ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 34 The glowing banquet-room shone with wide-arched grace.
2013 Manly (Austral.) Daily (Nexis) 18 Mar. 3 They loved the 5m-high ceilings, the original floorboards and wide-arched hallway.
wide-bellied adj.
ΚΠ
1594 J. Stockwood tr. L. Daneau Fruitfull Comm. Twelue Small Prophets (Jonah i. 17) 181 The kinde of Whales, who are of so huge a greatnes, and so wide bellied [L. tam capacis ventris], that they can swallow downe whole men.
1807 tr. A. von Kotzebue Subterraneous Passage in Pastor's Daughter (ed. 2) III. i. 26 He was scarcely able to drag his short bulky legs, after his wide bellied body.
1921 W. de la Mare Veil & Other Poems 6 Dipped the wide-bellied boat.
1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Med. 73 7 A wide-bellied, ungainly but functional ambulance.
2009 Herald Sun (Austral.) (Nexis) 16 Aug. 22 We clamber across wide-bellied boats being hand-loaded with sacks of garlic and apples.
wide-brimmed adj.
ΚΠ
1819 Port Folio Apr. 320 They wear a round and very wide brimmed hat, tied under the chin.
1918 J. W. Gerard Face to Face with Kaiserism xv. 180 An actress who wore a wide-brimmed hat.
2005 P. D. James Lighthouse ii. ii. 94 A black wide-brimmed trilby worn with a certain rakishness.
wide-legged adj.
ΚΠ
1802 H. Neuman New Dict. Spanish & Eng. Langs. I Pernabierto, open or wide legged.
1938 R. Graves Coll. Poems 28 The wide-legged robin with his breast aglow.
2006 New Yorker 6 Feb. 22/3 Three sailors cartwheel onto a New York street corner with their white wide-legged pants and smushed caps.
wide-lipped adj.
ΚΠ
1752 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. III. 147 The great, wide-lipped, ear Murex, of Rumphius.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxvii. 409 Those wide-lipped crystal vessels..in which chemists..measure out their liquid drugs.
2015 Korea Times (Nexis) 19 Nov. It is easier to smell the wine when drinking in a wide-lipped glass.
wide-margined adj.
ΚΠ
1809 Monthly Rev. June 217 The hot-pressed and wide-margined volumes, which have begun of late to obtrude themselves even into the study of professional men.
1973 M. E. Wharton & R. W. Barbour Trees & Shrubs of Kentucky 225 Leaves thick and lustrous..; petioles wide-margined.
2015 Wesleyan Argus (Nexis) 16 Feb. (Sports section) 1 Siracusa's return helped the Cardinals to wide-margined victories over SUNY Oswego, 33–12, and Hunter College, 33–14.
wide-necked adj.
ΚΠ
1746 W. Lewis Course Pract. Chem. i. xiii. 156 Put nine ounces of borax in powder into a wide necked glass retort.
1880 J. Dunbar Pract. Papermaker 69 A wide-necked glass-stoppered bottle.
1908 W. B. Coley in W. W. Keen Surgery IV. liii. 29 In very large umbilical hernia with a wide-necked sac, a loop of intestine may be irreducible without strangulation occurring.
2005 Metro 15 June (London ed.) 23/2 Then came a foie gras and chicken liver mousse in a little wide-necked Kilner jar.
wide-shouldered adj.
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1772 W. Walsh Life Virgil in J. Dryden tr. Virgil Wks. (new ed.) I. 62 He was..tall and wide shouldered.
1935 R. Kipling Two Forewords 19 But thou, O Nakhoda, art young and wide-shouldered.
1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow i. 127 A few women in clinking boots and wide-shouldered swagger coats, but no children.
2015 J. Meno Marvel & Wonder 291 The horse was a muscular-looking one, wide-shouldered, stark white.
wide-skirted adj.
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1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear i. 59 With shady forrests, and wide skirted meades. View more context for this quotation
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist II. xxxvi. 287 The coat was wide-skirted.
2015 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 13 Sept. 7 Dressed in wide-skirted gowns made of Indian calico, the fashionable ladies..would come calling on Mr Alexander Pope.
wide-sleeved adj.
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1581 A. Gilby Pleasaunt Dialogue sig. M3 The great wide sleeued gowne, commaunded to the Ministers, & the charge to weare those sleeues vpon the armes, be the weather neuer so hote.
1760 World Displayed IX. 78 Those of a superior rank have long drawers, a wide sleeved kind of a shirt that hangs over them, and a waistcoat.
1836 J. F. Davis Chinese I. ix. 330 The host..accommodated the whole number of ten or twelve with handsome wide-sleeved spencers, all of the most costly furs.
1926 D. H. Lawrence David viii. 63 Takes off striped coat, or wide-sleeved tunic.
2011 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 20 June 14 To create a simple summer look contrast the white jacket with this wide-sleeved green dress.
wide-throated adj.
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1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Papado Wide throated.
a1627 T. Middleton Mayor of Quinborough (1661) i. i. 5 Will that wide throated Beast, the multitude, Never leave bellowing?
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. x. 8 Wide-throated war calamitous.
1883 Leisure Hour 312/2 The characters of the Eurypharynx (wide-throated pelican fish) are so divided.
2004 B. Powning Hatbox Lett. ii. 21 Both of them beneath their summer quilt, listening to the wide-throated roar of river rain.
wide-windowed adj.
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1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) xiv. f. 184v Vp the hygh wyde windowde house in saying so, shee ran [L. patulis iniit tectum..fenestris].
1651 C. Hotham Petition & Argument 11 The Laws were then (as the Mosaical Law) like those wide-window'd Nets our national Statutes prescribe for hindering the destruction of the young fry of fish.
1826 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 258/2 It would be extremely pleasant to breakfast in that wide-windowed room on the ground-floor.
1870 J. R. Lowell Cathedral 20 A life wide-windowed, shining all abroad, Or curtains drawn to shield from sight profane.
1970 Daily Tel. 30 Apr. 17 A wide-windowed bar parlour.
2015 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 4 July 8 Couples sunken into romance among plush leather sofas while taking in the wide-windowed nighttime views of a swollen D94.
b. With nouns, forming adjectives with the sense ‘having, involving, or relating to a (or the) wide ——’.
wide-head adj.
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1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. IV 371 The wide-head oaks.
1990 Pop. Sci. Apr. 17/1 It can be attached with staples.., wide-head nails, or glue.
2014 Plymouth Herald (Nexis) 13 Feb. 28 In the bathroom is a modern white suite comprising a bath with a wide-head shower above, a wc and a feature wash hand basin.
wide-row adj.
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1809 Agric. Mag. Oct. 235 After this hoeing,..the wide row wheat grew away most luxuriantly.
1821 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 1 Dec. 1323 The advantages of the wide-row culture.
1960 W. L. Anderson Making Land produce Useful Wildlife 8 (caption) Wide-row corn [has] been flooded in this duck field.
2015 S. Burnett (Queensland) Times & Rural Weekly (Nexis) 2 Oct. 17 Even wide row wheat can give rise to more interrow weed germinations due to lack of crop competition.
wide-world adj.
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1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. App. xv. 385 He [sc. Rubens] has neither cloister breeding nor boudoir breeding,..but he has an open sky and wide-world breeding in him.
1883 Cent. Mag. Mar. 720/2 Gambetta wished the exhibition to redound abroad to the glory of France, and to be an agency for gaining a wide-world sympathy for the Republic.
2007 G. R. Edgerton Columbia Hist. Amer. Television viii. 291 Arledge did institute a ‘wide world’ approach, but his efforts to further internationalize ABC News actually improved the quality of the programming rather than lowering standards as his detractors had predicted.
C2.
wide-angled adj. = wide-angle adj. (in various senses).
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > camera > parts and accessories of camera > [adjective] > types of lens
flat field1841
wide-angle1865
slow1867
wide-angled1873
fast1877
rapid1878
fish-eye1882
sharp1883
symmetrical1890
telephotographic1891
telephotographic lens1891
narrow-angle1893
stigmatic1896
tele-negative1898
tele-positive1898
bloomed1945
soft1945
wide-field1950
1873 E. F. Moelling tr. H. Vogel Photographer's Pocket Reference-bk. & Dict. 12 Steinheil has made wide-angled aplanatic lenses.
1961 Press-Courier (Oxnard, Calif.) 6 Sept. 36/6 Some day we must come back with proper camera equipment for we want a wide-angled shot of that entrance for a Christmas card we have in mind.
1977 Nursing Mirror 18 Aug. 4/2 Convex wide-angled mirrors have been installed at bedsides so that patients, who lie flat on their backs most of the time, can have an uninterrupted view of the outside world.
2000 A. Primavesi Sacred Gaia ii. 20 This wide-angled view reveals the structural fragility of another foundation of traditional theology.
2011 Winnipeg Free Press 18 Jan. a2/1 The photographer joked he had left his wide-angled lens at home.
wide-aperture adj. Photography and Optics designating a lens or optical instrument (esp. a telescope) having a large maximum relative aperture.Wide-aperture lenses typically have larger diameters than other lenses.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > lens > [adjective] > types of lenses
convex?a1560
planoconvex1665
concavo-convex1677
convexo-concave1693
strong1732
aplanatic1799
periscopic1803
omphaloptic1819
polyzonal1823
shallow1837
first-order1846
periscopical1846
orthoscopic1853
rectilinear1874
overcorrected1875
sphero-cylindrical1881
wide-aperture1882
afocal1887
apochromatic1887
anastigmatic1890
telecentric1892
photovisual1899
aspherical1922
aspheric1923
multifocal1928
plano1944
demagnifying1959
1882 Eng. Mech. 17 Mar. 25/3 The view..that wide-aperture objectives produced confused images.
1966 D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. i. 57 With a wide-aperture telescope..there is no loss of brightness on magnification.
2015 Philippines Daily Inquirer (Nexis) 21 May Its f/2.0 wide-aperture lens lets users quickly and easily capture beautiful, high-resolution photos with zero shutter-lag.
wide area network n. [after local area network n. at local adj. and n. Compounds] Computing and Telecommunications a telecommunications or computer network that operates over a large geographical area (typically one having a radius greater than one kilometre); abbreviated WLAN; cf. local area network n. at local adj. and n. Compounds.
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society > computing and information technology > network > [noun] > wide area network
wide area network1975
WAN1983
1975 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 345 507 The result is a wide area network of interactive terminals, each able to confer with the other.
1988 Computer Weekly 1 Sept. 10/3 DEC to DEC links across a wide area network will use the Microserver with new Dec-router software.
2014 Crossroads (Manitoba) 27 June 26/3 Park West School Division is looking at improvements to its Wide Area Network (WAN) through the installation of a fiber optic infrastructure.
wide-armed adj. having a wide arm or arms; having the arms opened wide; (figurative) welcoming.
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1822 J. Wilson Lights & Shadows Sc. Life 305 Beneath the shadow of that wide-armed sycamore.
1898 G. Meredith Odes French Hist. 27 With view of wide-armed heaven.
1914 M. D. Sullivan Goddess of Dawn xi. 146 She called Arthur for a few moments to a seat beside the wide-armed wicker chair in which she lounged.
2014 New Yorker 19 May 92/2 ‘In the Light of what We Know’ is what Salman Rushdie once called an ‘everything novel.’ It is wide-armed, hospitable, disputatious, worldly, cerebral.
wide-band adj. Electronics and Telecommunications of or relating to a band of electromagnetic frequencies lying within a broad range; esp. of or relating to a transmission system employing a wide bandwidth; frequently contrasted with narrowband adj.
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society > communication > telecommunication > [adjective] > band of frequencies
wide-band1931
vestigial side band1940
1931 Proc. IRE 19 716 The paper of the evening on ‘Fundamental Requirements for Wide Band Transmission’ was presented by John K. Hilliard.
1935 Wireless Engineer 12 251/1 A means of examining the behaviour of wide-band amplifiers when supplied with transient input waves.
1967 E. Chambers Photolitho-offset iv. 42 Although this ideal is not fully realised the fact remains that very acceptable results can be obtained using either wide-band (trichromatic) or narrow-cut filters.
1996 Accoustical Imaging 22 70 In general, images obtained by using wide-band signals are of better quality..than those obtained by means of narrow-band signals.
2010 RadioUser Apr. 15/3 Eddie..would like to know the most useful wideband scanner to purchase there that would also be good for use in the UK.
wide boy n. British colloquial a boy or man who lives by his wits, esp. one skilled in dishonest practices or involved in petty criminal activities; cf. sense 13b.
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society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > dishonesty > dishonest person
shondc725
makeshift1554
roundabout1605
fraudsman1613
trickster1711
bug1785
fly-by-night1796
twister1834
rigger1859
shyster1877
crook1879
heel1914
wide boy1937
1933 E. Williams et al. Friday Thirteenth (transcribed from film) You're talking to one of the widest boys ever walked in a pair of shoes.]
1937 R. Westerby Wide Boys never Work 232 Jim was turning, or had already turned, into a Smart Aleck, a Wide Boy, a despiser of the Mugs who worked.
1976 J. O'Connor Eleventh Commandment iii. 38 All the wide boys thought I had gone mad when they saw me in khaki.
2012 Steam World Aug. 48/1 The wide boys of the market had evidently seen a naïve lad from the provinces coming!
† wide coat n. Obsolete (chiefly English regional) an overcoat, a greatcoat.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > coat > types of > overcoat
greatcoat1647
out-coat1684
wide coat1698
big coat1720
overcoat1802
trusty1804
jemmy1836
reefer1870
bridge coat1915
orchestration1939
lead sheet1942
1698 J. Dunton Let. (Rawl. D.71) f. 23 When night came he borrowed his landlords cloake, or wide coate, to goe abroad in for feare of cold.
1746 G. Williamson Diary 25 Oct. in Arthuret & Langtown (1997) 70 Cloth for a wide Coat from Mr. Raincock.
1760 Ann. Reg. 1759 Characters 355/1 He saw a person come out of Aram's house, who had a wide coat on, with the cape about his head.
1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words Wide-coat, an upper or great coat.
wide chord adj. chiefly Aeronautics designating an aerofoil (in later use esp. a blade of a propeller, rotor, or turbine fan) having a relatively wide chord (chord n.1 6); (also) designating a device equipped with such aerofoils.
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1917 W. B. Stout Acquiring Wings 33 A certain number of ribs..are constructed without support other than the spars..and by spacers or extra wing spars on wide chord wings.
1956 Sci. News Let. 24 Mar. 185/3 High-speed airplanes will need very thin, comparatively wide chord wings for best supersonic cruising.
1993 Professional Engin. Dec. 1/3 The wide-chord fan designed by Rolls-Royce has been a major contributor to the company's increasing share of the civil engine market.
2001 Flying Nov. 72 (caption) The Williams engine has a one-piece fan with wide chord blades.
wide-cut adj. (a) (of a cutting machine, esp. a mower) having a wide cutting area; (b) (of fuel, esp. a blend of gasoline and kerosene used as aviation fuel) composed of components whose boiling points span a broad range of temperatures; (also) designating the distillation of such fuel.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > extracted or refined oil > [adjective] > refined or distilled mineral oil
cracked1884
wide-cut1888
stripped1931
re-refined1932
steam-cracked1962
1888 Buyer's Guide (Farm Implement News Company) 116 (advt.) Of the many points of superiority which our wide-cut mowers have over all other mowing machines, the most important is our Curved Cutter-Bar, Suspension Spring and Compound Lever.
1946 Industr. & Engin. Chem. (Industr. ed.) 38 139 (caption) Aviation gasoline from Southwest Louisiana wide-cut gas oil by catalytic cracking plus hydrogenation.
1958 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 1027/2 Wide-cut fuel, low octane petrol (gasoline) obtained from wide-cut distillation used in turbojets in order to conserve kerosene.
1989 Res. & Devel. in Agric. 6 45/2 Wide cut mowers will become increasingly popular.
2012 E. Dahlquist Biomass as Energy Source 191 Jet B is a wide-cut fuel, which has a more diverse hydrocarbon blend with chain lengths from about C4 to C16.
wide-eared adj. having wide ears; having the ears wide open; listening intently.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > [adjective] > listening > listening intently
whole-eared1681
wide-eared1866
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > notice, observation > [adjective] > listening attentively
listeninga1275
attending1599
whole-eared1681
on or upon the listen1788
wide-eared1866
ear-bending1912
1618 M. Baret Hipponomie iii. 3 If he [sc. your horse] be somewhat bangled, or wide eared so they be sharp, it is a signe of toughnesse.
1684 London Gaz. No. 1976/4 A black Coach Mare.., a little wide Eared.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. iv. 149 The boys listened, wide-eyed and wide-eared.
2009 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 8 Nov. a6 Imagine..that the royal motorcade breaks down right in front of your house and you answer your door to find a wide-eared king-to-be on the other side.
wide-eyed adj. having wide eyes; having the eyes wide open; gazing intently; (in extended use) surprised, amazed, naive.
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the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > [adjective] > wide-eyed
wide-eyed1789
pop-eyed1906
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > notice, observation > [adjective] > observing closely
narrow-eyed1600
examining1649
sharp-eyed1672
wide-eyed1789
whole-eyed1911
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [adjective] > by size, shape, etc. > having
goggle-eyedc1384
well-eyed1483
pink-eyed1519
hollow-eyeda1529
small-eyed1555
great-eyed1558
bird-eyed1564
out-eyed1570
large-eyed1575
full-eyed1581
bright-eyed1590
wall-eyed1590
beetle-eyed1594
fire-eyed?1594
young-eyed1600
open-eyed1601
soft-eyed1606
narrow-eyed1607
broad-eyed?1611
saucer-eyed1612
ox-eyed1621
pig-eyed1655
glare-eyed1683
pit-eyed1696
dove-eyed1717
laughing-eyed1784
almond1786
wide-eyed1789
moon-eyed1790
big-eyed1792
gooseberry-eyed1796
red-eyed1800
unsealed1800
screw-eyed1810
starry-eyed1818
pinkie-eyed1824
pop-eyed1830
bead-eyed1835
fishy-eyed1836
almond-eyed1849
boopic1854
sharp-set1865
bug-eyed1872
beady-eyed1873
bias-eyed1877
blank-eyed1881
gape-eyed1889
glass-eyed1889
stone-eyed1890
pie-eyed1900
slitty-eyed1908
steely-eyed1964
megalopic1985
1789 T. Holcroft tr. King Frederick II Let. in tr. King Frederick II Posthumous Wks. VI. 539 Ignorance, wide eyed [Fr. l'ignorant], believes 'tis found In some uncouth, unmeaning sound.
1855 C. Kingsley Argonauts in Heroes i. 80 The boy listened wide-eyed.
1894 Forum (N.Y.) Feb. 717 Madison's..wide-eyed prudence in counsel.
1897 H. Tennyson Alfred Ld. Tennyson: Mem. I. xviii. 369 [Quoting Ld. Tennyson] The wide-eyed wonder of a babe has a grandeur in it.
1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 101 The human soul is fated to wide-eyed responsibility In life.
1983 L. Deighton Berlin Game ix. 95 You ask him all those wide-eyed innocent questions about making profits from cheap labour.
2014 London Evening Standard 9 Oct. (West End Final ed.) 28/2 I just feel like a wide-eyed kid and that's not how I want to walk into the Olympic Games.
wide-gab n. Scottish (now rare) the angler, Lophius piscatorius.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > superorder Paracanthopterygii > order Lophiiformes (anglers) > [noun] > family Lophiidae > lophius piscatorius (angler)
frogfish1598
frog1601
sea-fisher1601
sea-frog1601
friar1603
toad-fish1612
catfish1620
sea-angler1653
devil fish1666
monkfish1666
nass-fish1666
angler1776
pocket-fish1796
kettle-mawa1798
wide-gab1807
anglerfish1854
round robin1880
dragon-
1807 Scots Mag. Sept. 646/1 The people there call them Wide-gabs, from the uncommon size of their mouth.
1854 Fraser's Mag. Aug. 203/2 When caught in a net,..the appetite of the Wide Gab is no whit discouraged; and it generally devours some of its fellow-prisoners.
1991 K. P. N. Shuker Extraordinary Animals Worldwide iii. 28 This is Lophius piscatorius, whose repulsive form has earned it many weird names, including goosefish, frogfish, fishing-frog, sea-devil, wide-gab, and..the angler fish.
wide game n. (a) Sport (chiefly Rugby) a style of play that involves moving the ball into those areas of the pitch nearest to the sides, in order to stretch the play; (b) (esp. in the Scout movement) any outdoor game played over a wide area and involving a large number of participants.
ΚΠ
1910 Evening Tel. & Post (Dundee) 7 Feb. 5/5 Falkirk played the wide game, usually most discomforting to half backs, giving them no end of running about.
1936 Boys' Life Aug. 20/4 We played games: Wide Games with smugglers and G-men over large areas, and Close Games with Patrols pitted against one another on the camp playground.
1938 Iowa Recorder 23 Nov. 6/1 The afternoon was spent in pacing and mapping practice, ‘wide game’ period, proper use of knife, hatchet, cooking aids and types of fires.
1985 Times 25 Nov. 25/3 Scottish controlled the match by winning most of the loose ball, and they played the wide game, knowing the risks were minimal against this raw opposition.
2015 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 14 Feb. 10 The artworks..are clues in a huge ‘wide game’ to be played across the central business district by 8000 Scouts on Sunday morning.
wide gauge n. Railways = broad gauge n.; chiefly attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > permanent way > space between rails > gauge
wide gauge1837
narrow gauge1839
gauge1841
broad gauge1844
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [adjective] > types of track or rail
slow1799
fast1814
fish-jointed1855
prismoidal1874
broad-gauged1881
monorail1885
unballasted1887
sleepered1894
monoline1902
wide gauge1982
1837 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 325/1 There is nothing in the wide gauge which involves any considerably increased weight in the engines.
1982 S. G. Duff Parting of Ways iv. 43 We all boarded the train for Moscow, changing onto the wide-gauge railway at the Soviet frontier.
2015 Times Central Asia (Nexis) 25 Nov. It would also resolve the problem of the incompatibility between Central Asia's wide-gauge track system and China's standard-gauge system.
wide-handed adj. having or resembling a wide hand or hands; (figurative) open-handed, generous.
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1600 N. Breton Pasquils Fooles-cap (rev. ed.) sig. B4v In the aime of Wisdomes eye, Wide handed Wits will euer shoote awry.
1638 R. Brathwait Psalmes David iv. civ. 203 This sea, so great wide-handed deep.
1783 tr. C. Linnaeus Syst. Veg. II. 725 M[omordica] pomes angled tubercled, leaves smooth wide-handed.
1845 New Monthly Belle Assemblée Dec. 336/1 His general intelligence, proved skill, and wide-handed benevolence.
2013 F. Burton & S. M. Katz Under Fire xiii. 137 The situation warranted a razor-sharp slice and not a wide-handed slap.
wide-hearted adj. generous, magnanimous; open-hearted.
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1802 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) II. 887 Would..any warm & wide-hearted man marry at all?
1917 Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 677/1 Ladies..narrow in their interests,..but wide-hearted.
2014 Pioneer (India) (Nexis) 29 Jan. The essence of this principle is a large and wide-hearted toleration in which differences are recognised and given their due.
wide-heartedness n. the fact or quality of being wide-hearted; generosity, magnanimity.
ΚΠ
1848 J. Thomson & P. Fairbairn tr. E. W. Hengstenberg Comm. Psalms 211 Love of strife appears as the outward expression of wide-heartedness.
1908 Contemp. Rev. Dec. 728 This practical devotion, this liberal wide-heartedness.
2012 Contemp. Sociol. 41 727/2 The interplay of religion and evolution will..replace intramural..rejections with moral wide-heartedness.
wide-leafed adj. (also wide-leaved) (a) having a wide leaf or leaves; (b) (of a hat) broad-brimmed; cf. leafed adj. 3; (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [adjective] > hat > having a brim > broad-brimmed
broad-brimmed1606
wide-leafed1779
brimmy1896
1779 P. M. Freneau in U.S. Mag. Aug. 356 A wide-leaf'd table stood on either side.
1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 3 June in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1987) IV. 250 They..found it a boald running stream..containing much timber in it's bottom, consisting of the narrow and wide leafed cottonwood.
1824 M. J. Quin Visit to Spain (ed. 2) iii. 41 A wide-leafed hat turned up full at the sides.
1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic III. vi. vii. 608 He wore a wide-leaved..hat of dark felt.
1937 Weekly Irish Times 14 Aug. 9/3 Women visitors came in graceful summer frocks..and wide leafed hats.
1949 S. O'Casey Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy (1985) 338 He wears a wide-leafed collar.
2010 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (Nexis) 19 May 1 d Comfrey, a wide-leafed perennial used in ancient Rome and Greece to heal wounds.
wide-meshed adj. having or resembling a mesh or net that has wide gaps or interstices; (figurative) having a broad scope; loosely defined.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > fact or condition of being transverse > intersection > [adjective] > like a net or network
netty1587
network1599
meshed1616
retiform1636
reticulate1658
reticulated1665
verricular1706
reticulary1717
retiformous1718
reticular1722
wide-meshed1724
netted1791
reticulating1795
reticuled1824
reticulose1826
1724 R. Hall Observ. Methods used in Holland vii. 22 Women..riddle it [sc. the Seed]..through a wide meshed Riddle, and sever the Seed from the Leaves, Stalks, and grosser Part of the Filth, which was before mixed with it.
1870 H. Power tr. S. Stricker Man. Human & Compar. Histol. I. 252 The transversely striated muscle of the endocardium of the ventricle occurs..as a wide-meshed network of muscular bundles.
1938 Dial. Notes 6 626 Professor A. H. Marckwardt..has begun a wide-meshed survey of the Great Lakes region and the Ohio River valley.
1980 Eng. World-wide 1 i. 28 Unfortunately..his survey is even more wide-meshed than Orton's.
2000 L. Sage Bad Blood 133 The pattern of farm days was loose and wide-meshed, there was a desultory quality about it.
2013 Southland Times (N.Z.) (Nexis) 22 Oct. 7 Push puree through a large wide-meshed sieve to catch pips and skins.
wide-minded adj. tolerant or liberal in one's views or outlook; having an open mind; broad-minded.
ΚΠ
1850 G. Gilfillan Second Gallery Lit. Portraits 164 He is too proud for a Radical, and too wide-minded for a Tory.
1883 A. Barratt Physical Metempiric Pref. p. xx In politics his sympathies were liberal and wide-minded.
1914 R. B. Tollinton Clement of Alexandria II. xx. 273 Wide-minded teachers, who have the power to discern affinities and to greet the ally in disguise.
2014 Arab Times (Nexis) 22 July [Egypt] has become wide-minded under the tenure of President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi.
wide-mindedness n. the fact or quality of being wide-minded; broad-mindedness.
ΚΠ
1865 Dundee Courier & Argus 22 Aug. Call you this wide-mindedness?
1927 A. H. McNeile Introd. to New Test. 103 The former was interested in the wide-mindedness and kindly spirit shown by Gentile Christians in the young Church at Antioch.
2003 A. Vigneron in D. R. Foster & J. W. Koterski Two Wings Catholic Thought 105 I would underscore the need to cultivate in our students a ‘wide-mindedness’, a readiness to stretch themselves beyond the usual boundaries of their intellectual capital.
wideout n. American Football = wide receiver n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > types of player
side tackle1809
nose guard1852
rusher1877
goalkicker1879
quarterback1879
runner1880
quarter1883
full back1884
left guard1884
snap-back1887
snapper-back1887
running back1891
tackle1891
defensive end1897
guard1897
interferer1897
receiver1897
defensive back1898
defensive tackle1900
safety man1901
ball carrier1902
defensive lineman1902
homebrew1903
offensive lineman1905
lineman1907
returner1911
signal caller1915
rover1916
interference1920
punt returner1926
pass rusher1928
tailback1930
safety1931
blocker1935
faker1938
scatback1946
linesman1947
flanker1953
platoon player1953
corner-back1955
pulling guard1955
split end1955
return man1957
slot-back1959
strong safety1959
wide receiver1960
line-backer1961
pocket passer1963
tight end1963
run blocker1967
wideout1967
blitzer1968
1967 Laurel (Mississippi) Leader-Call 5 Dec. 11/2 Miami now employs only one wideout, split end Jim Cox.
1987 Gridiron Pro! No. 5. 18/1 Wideout Jerry Rice sparkled with six passes for 154 yards.
2003 Black Men Oct. 20 A quality wideout for QB David Carr to throw to.
wide receiver n. American Football a pass receiver who stands several yards to the side of an offensive formation; cf. wideout n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > types of player
side tackle1809
nose guard1852
rusher1877
goalkicker1879
quarterback1879
runner1880
quarter1883
full back1884
left guard1884
snap-back1887
snapper-back1887
running back1891
tackle1891
defensive end1897
guard1897
interferer1897
receiver1897
defensive back1898
defensive tackle1900
safety man1901
ball carrier1902
defensive lineman1902
homebrew1903
offensive lineman1905
lineman1907
returner1911
signal caller1915
rover1916
interference1920
punt returner1926
pass rusher1928
tailback1930
safety1931
blocker1935
faker1938
scatback1946
linesman1947
flanker1953
platoon player1953
corner-back1955
pulling guard1955
split end1955
return man1957
slot-back1959
strong safety1959
wide receiver1960
line-backer1961
pocket passer1963
tight end1963
run blocker1967
wideout1967
blitzer1968
1960 New Castle (Pa.) News 15 Oct. 12/5 The Blues counter as assigning the defensive halfback on that side and the safety man to cover the two wide receivers.
1981 Washington Post 8 Apr. d1 We will have to take the best athlete available... That could be an offensive lineman, a running back or a wide receiver.
2011 Telegram & Gaz. (Mass.) (Nexis) 30 July (Sports section) b1 Tom Brady spent much of yesterday getting acquainted with the Patriots' newest wide receiver.
wide-ringed adj. designating wood, a tree, etc., having wide annual growth rings; cf. ring n.1 7d.
ΚΠ
1892 F. Roth in B. E. Fernow Timber Physics: Pt. I (U.S. Dept. Agric.: Forestry Div. Bull. No. 6) 42 In one tree all pieces were made but 3 cm. thick radially, in another 4 cm., in still others 5 cm., while in some trees, especially wide-ringed oaks, the pieces were left still larger.
1905 Missouri Bot. Garden Ann. Rep. 119 The pieces were chosen from specially wide-ringed trees.
1975 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 271 107 In conifers,..wide-ringed wood tends to be less dense than narrow-ringed wood.
2013 P. S. Savill Silviculture of Trees Brit. Forestry (ed. 2) 135 A smooth finish can be obtained, even on wide-ringed timber.
wide-scale adj. occurring on a wide scale; extensive; cf. large-scale adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > extensive or on a large scale
largea1400
ample1437
farc1475
diffused?1570
spacious1589
extensive1605
wholesale1642
diffuse1644
extense1644
voluminousa1652
amplivagant1656
extentive1658
numerousa1661
extended1700
amplivagous1731
far-reaching1824
Homeric1841
large-scale1856
wholescale1910
wide-scale1925
big-scale1930
macroscopic1931
broadscale1958
1925 Financial Times 15 Sept. 5/4 He urges an immediate and wide-scale planting of upwards of a million acres.
1958 G. Lienhardt in J. Middleton & D. Tait Tribes without Rulers 108 There was little wide-scale co-operation against the common enemies.
2011 Independent 1 July (Viewspaper section) 2/2 A media empire which is responsible for widescale and illegal phone-hacking.
† wide-side adj. [ < wide adj. + side adj. (compare side adj. 2a(a))] Obsolete wide and long, capacious.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > [adjective] > roomy > capacious
capable1594
wide-side1606
captiousa1616
generous1615
capacious1656
spacious1819
continent1856
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 48 Glory..Her wide-side Robes [Fr. ses robes trainantes]..All Story-wrought with bloody Victories.
wide-wale adj. (of a fabric, esp. corduroy) having widely-spaced ridges.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [adjective] > ribbed or corded > specific
wide-wale1884
needlecord1973
1884 Clothier & Furnisher Oct. 11/1 There is a pronounced disposition on the part of New Yorkers to select heavy weight wide wale diagonals instead.
1908 W. H. Baker Dict. Men's Wear 286 Wide wale, worsted suitings with warp-wise or diagonal wales or flat ribs, often quite wide.
1980 L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 98 Wide wale corduroy pants.
2002 J. Eugenides Middlesex iv. 404 The crew neck sweaters..the Lacoste shirts, the wide-wale corduroys.
wide-winged adj. having wide wings (in various senses of wing n.); †(poetic) flying through a wide space or region (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving with current of air or water > motion in the air > [adjective] > flying (as) with wings > through a wide region
wide-winged1818
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [adjective] > hemimetabolous > belonging to Orthoptera > of or relating to locusts > having wide wings
wide-winged1884
1637 W. Lithgow True Disc. Siege of Breda 3 Thence carrocheering to Dunhag, that wide-winged Village, and Courtly Residence of the united States.
1773 J. Macpherson Diss. in Poems of Ossian (new ed.) II. 65 Foldath sent his shouts abroad, and kindled all the field: as a blast that lifts the wide-winged flame, over Lumon's ecchoing groves.
1818 P. B. Shelley Homer's Hymn to Moon 3 Muses..Sing the wide-winged Moon!
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 254 The wide-winged wind.
1872 Ld. Tennyson Last Tournament in Gareth & Lynette 116 The wide-wing'd sunset of the misty marsh.
1884 J. G. Wood in Sunday Mag. May 307/2 Wide-winged as they are, the Locusts are very feeble in the air.
1985 C. Potok Davita's Harp (1993) v. 284 I saw the white birds circling above the beach, wide-winged terns, wheeling, calling.
2015 Nation (Thailand) (Nexis) 28 Mar. The successful test of a wide-winged, solar-powered drone built to deliver wireless Internet service to remote spots.
wide work n. Coal Mining (now historical and rare) a system of room and pillar mining (see room and pillar n. at room n.1 and int. Phrases 8) in which the passages are significantly wider than the pillars separating them; (also) mining done according to this system; frequently contrasted with narrow work n. at narrow adj. and n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1831 Manch. Times & Gaz. 2 Apr. 571/3 Prices of a neighbouring coal master in the same mine... Wide work. 4s. 3d. per load... Strait Work... 3s. 6d.
1851 J. Hedley Pract. Treat. Coal Mines ii. 15 Wide Work is a mode of working peculiar to the Yorkshire Coal Field.
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Wide Work. A South Yorkshire system (now nearly obsolete) of working coal.
1993 C. Baylies Hist. Yorks. Miners 182 The long-wall system involved the working of a long or wide face. In some cases it was distinguished by the term wide work as opposed to the narrow work of the pillar system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† widev.

Forms: Old English widian, Middle English wyde, Middle English 1600s–2000s wide.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Middle Dutch wīden (Dutch wijden ), Middle Low German wīden , Old High German wīten (Middle High German wīten , German weiten ), Old Icelandic víða , Old Swedish vidha (compare Swedish vidga ), Old Danish, Danish vide < the Germanic base of wide adj.
Obsolete (rare in later use).
transitive. To make wide or wider; (also) to open wide or to the full extent; to widen. Also occasionally intransitive: to become wider.In quot. c1300: to lay (a table); cf. spread v. 11a.In quot. ?1440: to set widely apart.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > be far from [verb (transitive)] > distance one thing from another
wideOE
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > breadth or width > make broad or wide [verb (transitive)]
wideOE
brede1440
widen1566
broaden1861
OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. xxxvi. 315 Þa seaðas, þæs þe þa secgað, þe hit witon, weaxað daga gehwilce & widiað.
c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 11357 Bumes ar blewe, bordes me wyde [c1275 Calig. bradden], water me brohte an flore mid goldene bole.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8232 Þan dide þe king tilward þat side þat orchiard al for to wide.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iii. l. 923 And wide hem so that, though the winde him shake, No drope of oon vntil another take.
a1645 W. Browne First Song in Wks. (1868) 141 Celadyne, now widing more the dore, Made a small noyse.
1655 Natura Exenterata 417 Widen out of both sides of your seam as you did before at every four purles, til you have wided seven stitches at a side.
1680 J. Hinckley Fasciculus Literarum 138 You are still widing the Breach, cutting out new Work, and putting up new Game.
1883 J. D. Hylton Heir of Lyolynn iii. xxviii. 138 Circle into circle springs, For ever widing in their round.
1892 D. H. van Histyne in O. Zunz Making Amer. Corporate (1990) vi. 155 How to inprove [sic] the machine to cut corn fodder to six or eight feet high with out widing the aprons.
1918 Automobile Jrnl. 10 Jan. 21/2 One unusually attractive bag is a long and narrow shape, slightly widing out at the centre and ending in a point.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

wideadv.

Brit. /wʌɪd/, U.S. /waɪd/
Forms: early Old English uidæ (Northumbrian), Old English widdast (superlative), Old English (rare)–1500s wyde, Old English– wide, early Middle English wiðe (perhaps transmission error), Middle English vyde, Middle English weide, Middle English wid, Middle English wyd, late Middle English swyde (transmission error); also Scottish pre-1700 vyd, pre-1700 vyid, pre-1700 wid, pre-1700 wyd, pre-1700 wyde, pre-1700 wyid. Comparative

α. Old English widor, late Middle English wijder, late Middle English–1600s wyder, 1500s– wider.

β. Old English widdor, Middle English widder, Middle English wydder, Middle English wyddere, Middle English wyddore, Middle English wyddur.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian wīde , Old Dutch wīdo (Middle Dutch wīde , Dutch wijd ), Old Saxon wīdo (Middle Low German wīde ), Old High German wīto (Middle High German wīte , wīt , German weit ), Old Icelandic víða , Old Swedish viþ , wydha (Swedish vida ), Old Danish, Danish vide < the Germanic base of wide adj. + a suffix forming adverbs. Compare widen adv.With the comparative and superlative forms compare discussion at wide adj. In Old English a rare prefixed superlative form gewīdost (in sense ‘farthest apart’; compare sense 2a) is also attested:OE Wife's Lament 13 Ongunnon þæt þæs monnes magas hycgan.., þæt hy todælden unc, þæt wit gewidost in woruldrice lifdon. With modern use of the adverb in compounds (see Compounds a) compare Old English compounds of wide adj. where the first element has a comparable function, e.g. (with present participle) wīdfērende coming from afar (compare fere v.1), (with past participle) wīdscofen scattered far and wide (compare shove v.1), (with adjectives) wīdmǣre celebrated, widely known (compare mere adj.1 and Old High German wītmāri ), wīdrynig far-flowing (compare rune n.1 and -y suffix1).
1.
a. Over or through a large space or region; so as to reach or affect many or various places or people; in a far-ranging manner.Frequently poetic except in far and wide at far adv. 2b, which is now the more usual term. Cf. wide and side at side adv.1 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adverb] > over or through a great distance
roomOE
widenOE
wideOE
farc1200
widely1579
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xxiv. 7 Manncwealmas beoð & hungras wide geond land.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 87 He wandrede wide, wernende [read weruende] longe, sechende him oðer stede.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 12807 Þet lond he weste wide.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 921 We beþ men wide idriue aboute Fram contreie to contreie.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 399 He..sprad þe endes of his kyngdom wydder þan dede his fader.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiv. l. 98 I wiste neuere..Man þat with hym spake as wyde as I haue passed!
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 7125 His marshal Tholomeu, Þat many prince wyde kneu.
?a1475 in J. Kail 26 Polit. Poems (1904) 148 In salt see I sayled well wyde.
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos iii. sig. G.ij In seas we wander wide.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 45 Quhair ance it fixis the rute it spredis the selfe sa braid and wyde, that [etc.].
1670 J. Milton Hist. Brit. vi. 247 Thence horsing thir Foot, diffus'd far wider thir outragious incursions.
1744 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons (new ed.) 225 There..Wide-roams the Russian Exile.
1831 W. Wordsworth Yarrow Revisited 9 Grave thoughts ruled wide on that sweet day.
1889 A. C. Swinburne Jacobite's Exile in Poems & Ballads 3rd Ser. xiv On Keilder-side the wind blaws wide.
1930 G. W. Knight in D. Lodge 20th Cent. Lit. Crit. (1972) 169 He welcomes disorder and confusion, would let them range wide over the earth.
1997 J. Noon Nymphomation (1998) 83 This fly is gonna travel wide! He's gonna send my message of gay love all over Manchester.
2012 T. Ojaide Drawing Map of Heaven ii. 25 ‘Travel wide,’ my father used to tell me.
†b. Coal Mining. According to the system of wide work (wide work n. at wide adj. Compounds 2). Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > [adverb] > method of mining
opencast1859
wide1886
1886 Rep. Accidents Lithgow Valley Colliery in Votes & Proc. Legislative Assembly New S. Wales 1885–6 V. 95 Up towards the left-hand of the tunnel and near the mouth, were the places worked wide there?
1904 Times 23 May 7/6 Payment was by tonnage raised when working ‘wide’—i.e., on the face of the seam.
2.
a. With a large space or spaces between; at a wide interval or intervals; far from one another. Now frequently with apart. Cf. sense 3.In quot. 1481: with widely spaced or long steps.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adverb] > far apart
wideOE
the world > space > extension in space > spreading or diffusion > [adverb] > widely spread
wideOE
rivedlyc1300
widely1579
worldwide1836
worldwidely1856
statewide1888
nationwide1971
OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1012 Þa toferde se here wide swa he ær gegaderod wæs.
a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Nero) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 201 Hwi ne worpe ich me bi-tweonen þeo ilke ermes so swiðe wide to-spredde and i-openeð.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 20385 Ȝe þat sua wide sundred war spred, Sais me quat has ȝu hider led.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 8036 Þei departe þe fomy wawes wyde.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 99 The wulf strode wyder than reynard dyde and ofte ouertoke hym.
1684 Bp. G. Burnet tr. T. More Utopia 68 Where the Towns lie wider, they have much more Ground.
1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xii. 136 The Churches being built wide from one another.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxviii. 182 The greatest part of water-fowl, whose legs are set wide asunder for the convenience of swimming and turning quick in the water, have always a waddling motion upon land.
1859 C. Reade Good Fight i, in Good Fight & Other Tales 7 But when Gerard whispered ‘Sit wider!’ says she, ‘Ay! the table will soon be too big for the children.’
1876 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 459/2 They are as wide apart in time as possible.
1885 Manch. Examiner 22 June 5/3 Their fields of activity are so wide apart.
1942 W. G. Hardy All Trumpets Sounded 133 The single garment she wore, wrapped closely about her, moulded the pouting breasts, set wide apart.
1999 C. Dolan Ascension Day (2000) vi. 123 He was simply small, with irregular features, a small nose maybe, or eyes too wide apart, or sticky-out ears.
2012 W. B. Cameron Dog's Journey 138 People were sitting in chairs spaced wide apart.
b. With reference to a horse's gait: with the hind or front legs relatively far apart. Chiefly with behind, before. Opposed to near adv.2 11.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by speed or gait > [adverb] > with legs wide apart
widea1450
a1450 Late Middle Eng. Treat. on Horses (1978) 87 (MED) Loke þat he be hardi & coragious of herte, redi & lyȝt of his feet, & þat he go wyde in resoun.
?1528 J. Skelton Dyuers Balettys & Dyties viii She [sc. the mare] goyth wyde behynde & hewyth neuer a dele.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iv. 39 They will make him that he shall not stradle or go to wide behind.
1680 London Gaz. No. 1557/4 A Bright Bay Gelding..Walks and Gallops wide behind.
1743 H. Bracken Traveller's Pocket-farrier 16 It throws his Shoulder-blades farther asunder, and causes him to go wide before.
1777 Compl. Vermin-killer 59 If he..goes wide behind, and near before,..he is very likely to prove a good servant.
1834 Veterinarian May 287 The horse rapidly became weaker;..stood wide behind, the better to support himself.
1895 J. Dimon Amer. Horses & Horse Breeding x. 96 He has free, abundant action;..he has not the usual fault of the Hambletonians of going too wide behind.
1911 C. T. Davies Horse i. 26 Some very fast horses go wide behind, but the peculiarity is unsightly.
2006 P. Schofler Flight without Wings viii. 100 She will also evaluate how the horse uses his hindquarters. Does he step wide behind? Or does he step under?
c. So as to be loose or free from being tied or held together. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > [adverb] > apart or asunder > loosely asunder
wide1785
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 567 The sportive wind blows wide Their flutt'ring rags, and shows a tawny skin.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 331 Shaking wide thy yellow hair.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Lady of Shalott iii, in Poems (new ed.) 15 Out flew the web, and floated wide.
1920 R. Carpenter Plainsman & Other Poems 89 Maenad, shake wide your hair!
1946 L. O'Flaherty Land xix. 121 She stretched out her arms and legs, shook wide her hair and floated with her face to the sun.
†3. At, to, or from a great or specified distance; far off. Also with of, from. Obsolete. N.E.D. (1924) labels this sense ‘Now only dial.’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adverb]
wideOE
awaya1375
upon farc1380
offc1400
aferroma1425
at length?1611
in distans1645
OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 112 Relegatus, wide asend.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 288 Ne lust me wit þe screwen chide, For þi ich wende from hom wide.
a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 99 So wyde I walkede þat I wax wery of þe wey.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 5 White rokkes aboute þe clyues of þe see þat were i-seie wide [L. a longe apparentibus].
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 629 I haue my-self ek seyn a blynd man go Ther as he fel þat coude loke wyde.
a1475 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Harl.) (1927) l. 1165 (MED) Þe kyng full wyde Gadered more folke, be eueri syde.
?1572 R. Sempill Premonitioun Barnis of Leith (single sheet) Wandering wyde fra this countrie Amang all vther Natiounis.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A7v A litle wyde There was an holy chappell edifyde.
1623 J. Taylor New Discouery by Sea sig. B A Towne call'd Goreing, stood neare two miles wide.
1690 W. Temple Ess. Gardens of Epicurus 57 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt. The Chineses: a People, whose way of thinking, seems to lie as wide of ours in Europe as their Country does.
1693 R. Plott in Miscellanies Curious Subj. (1714) 44 His Ships..lying above a Mile and half wide off the Town of Sandwich.
1715 tr. H. Michelot Mediterranean Pilot 67 The Fornigues of Talamon are Three flat Rocks lying..Ten or Twelve Miles wide of the Coast of Talamon.
1756 G. Washington Let. 2 Dec. in Writings (1889) I. 391 Fort Cumberland, lying more advanced, and wide of all other forts.
1857 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 1 Mar. in Eng. Notebks. (1997) II. v. 180 Not only in this district, but wide away.
1859 G. Meredith Last Words Juggling Jerry in Once a Week 3 Sept. 189/2 I was a lad not wide from here.
1876 W. Morris tr. Virgil Æneids xi. 318 Bristled boars, and sheep they snatch from meadows wide away.
4. With a wide or broad opening; so as to be fully open; to the full extent. Frequently used with verbs such as open, fling, or fly, with reference to opening a door, gate, etc. Cf. wide open adj. 1, and the predicative use of wide adj. 7a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > [adverb] > widely
wideOE
rifea1400
widely1838
OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxviii. 131 Muð ic ontynde minne wide, þæt me min oroð ut afæmde.
a1275 St. Margaret (Trin. Cambr.) l. 171 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 59 Ho sei a foul dragun ine þe hurne glide, berninde ase fur ant goninde ful wide.
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 342 Ðanne him hungreð, he gapeð wide.
c1330 Otuel (Auch.) (1882) l. 1659 (MED) He dude op þe ȝate wide, & lette ham boþe out ride.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 4651 Þan was þar a geant ful of pryde, And openede þe water-gate wyde, Ys name was enfachoun.
a1400 Siege Jerusalem (Laud) (1932) l. 390 A dragoun..Wyde gapande..gomes to swelwe.
c1460 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Laud) l. 18125 Opyn your yates ye prynces wyde.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxx[i]. 10 Open thy mouth wyde, & I shal fyll it.
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vi. sig. Q.iijv He [sc. Cerberus] gaping wyde his threfold iawes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 450 The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope, And giue you entrance.
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi viii. §1. 386 When the Pearl-fish gapeth wide, she hath a curious glistering within her shell.
1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week ii. 37 Thy neckcloth..o'er thy Kersey Doublet spreading wide.
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 282 The breach, though small at first, soon opening wide, In rushes folly with a full-moon tide.
1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XVI cxvii. 122 The door flew wide.
1889 H. R. Haggard Cleopatra ii. xii. 200 The doors were flung wide.
1905 Tales Sept. 13/2 She flung wide her arms and cried ‘Come to me!’.
1969 A. Carter Heroes & Villains (1981) v. 93 He opened his eyes wide as if surprised at her naïvety.
2012 S. Reifenberg Santiago's Children xvi. 100 In the car on the way to the dentist's office, I said, ‘Open wide’, and Andrés looked at me with his mouth gaping open.
5. So as to deviate from what is correct, desired, or intended; far from something in nature, character, outlook, etc.; so as to diverge from something. In early use also: †so as to err in opinion or belief, mistakenly (obsolete). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > [adverb] > in a wrong way, amiss
on missc1225
overthwarta1382
a-crookc1500
awrya1513
wide?1529
astray1535
across1559
bias1600
outa1641
beside the bridge1652
on the wrong side of the post1728
abroad1806
off1843
way off1882
off beam1941
up the boohai?1946
?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman i. xvi. sig. Sv Brynge them to fylthynes and foly, whan they wolde fayne please the women, and se they can nat, excepte they go wyde from all conditions perteynynge vnto men.
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. x. sig. B.viiiv Naye Cosin..there walke you somewhat wyde: for there you defende your owne ryghte for youre temporall auayle.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Prol. Many wryters..seldome made mencyon of ye scripture of the Byble: & though they some tyme aleged it, yet was it done..so wyde from ye purpose, that a man maye well perceaue, how that they neuer sawe the oryginall.
1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. L1v You recken to wide,..you are to much deceiued.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 486 If I should fetch it from Gron a Saxon word that signifieth a fenny place, I might perhaps goe wide.
1677 T. Otway Titus & Berenice i. ii. sig. B3v Thou answerst wide of my desire.
1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xiv. 242 This carries me wide from my Subject.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 234. ⁋4 To compare our Practice with their Precepts, and find where it was that we came short, or went wide.
1821 Rep. Proc. & Deb. of Convent. State N.Y. 84/2 If..we only correct what is amiss, we cannot go wide astray.
1839 Pict. Bible III. 594/1 There is no need to go wide from the English translation ‘fir tree’.
1882 Lippincott's Mag. Apr. 413/1 I address many questions..which are not answered, or are answered wide of my meaning.
1951 Bull. Mass. Audubon Soc. Jan. 40 The Jays..went far wide of their customary menus and stuffed so greedily each time that they must now be searching for soda-bicarb.
1972 Outlook (Karachi) 24 June 6/1 Something happened and things went wide of what obviously had been intended.
6. So as to miss to one side of a point aimed at (by a large distance); at a (large) distance to one side of an intended or correct target; so as to go around or pass by the side of something. Also in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > change of direction of movement > [adverb] > aside from proper course
asidea1398
far-about1483
wide1536
a-skie1554
tangentially1903
tangently1903
1536 R. Morison Remedy for Sedition sig. B.ii The bowe shooteth wyde, yf ye holde it not streyghte.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus i. f. 48v Than..those be wiser men, which couete to shote wyde than those whiche couete to hit the prycke.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. sig. K7v Then badd the knight this Lady..To an hill her selfe withdraw asyde,..She him obayd, and turnd a litle wyde.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet ii. ii. 475 Pyrrus at Pryam driues, but all in rage, Strikes wide.
a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Captaine ii. ii, in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Gg3v/2 You hurt not me Your anger flies so wide.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre i. xvii. 27 In bowling they must needs throw wide, which know not the green or alley whereon they play.
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 97 A little wide of the way to the Right Hand, I saw the Church.
1731 D. Waterland Script. Vindicated ii. 159 He had quite mistaken his Road... He blindly wandered and went wide.
1799 E. Dubois Piece Family Biogr. II. 3 The doctor..had escaped by going a little wide of the ass.
1826 J. M. Sherer Notes & Refl. Ramble Germany 160 Their guide took them to the height on the left..; I therefore passed wide of them, to the right.
1833 J. Nyren Young Cricketer's Tutor 24 A..ball..pitched a little wide of the off stump.
1899 H. R. Haggard Swallow xviii. 172 Zinti fired at him, but the ball went wide.
1913 Amer. Mag. Jan. 54/3 Too much of our reforming energy has been spent upon a symptom, and..our blows have fallen far wide of the real disorder.
1958 C. N. Parkinson Parkinson's Law (1961) 108 Water from the broken skylight drips wide of the bucket placed to catch it.
1987 Grimsby Evening Tel. 8 Dec. 17 His firsttime effort went wide, then Broughton had a goalbound shot blocked.
2015 Guardian (Nexis) 10 Jan. (Sports section) He glances it [sc. the ball] just wide of Warner at leg slip.
7. In various team sports (esp. Association Football): at or near the sides of the pitch or field.
ΚΠ
1906 Washington Post 2 Nov. 8/4 Magoffin was playing wide..when Garrels passed the ball to him.
1929 Manch. Guardian 6 Aug. 13/ The wing halves played wide out near the touch-line.
1976 M. J. Arlen View from Highway 1 93 Snelling goes wide. Simmons rolls to the right and fires.
2012 J. Maxymuk NFL Head Coaches 3/2 A team ran wide and got tackled near the sideline.

Compounds

a. Forming adjectives with present participles, past participles, and (less commonly) adjectives.
ΚΠ
1565 in J. Bell Queen Elizabeth & Swedish Princess (1926) 35 Your wyde stretched fame.
1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome iii. f. 29v With the wide resounding mouth, it doth no whit agree.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 489 Wide-yawning Gulphs.
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 142 As..the Grasse..Falls at the foot of the wide-stradling Mower.
1665 R. Alleine Heaven Opened xvii. 314 Shall the stars dwell with the dust? Or the wide distant Poles be brought to mutual embraces and cohabitation?
1718 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xv. 813 The Scene wide-opening to the Blaze of Light.
1726 J. Thomson Winter (ed. 2) 52 The wide-resounding Plain.
1730 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons 104 Wide-rent, the clouds Pour a whole flood.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 17 Smoak betrays the wide-consuming Fire.
1744 J. Thomson Spring in Seasons (new ed.) 5 Such Themes as these the rural Maro sung To wide-imperial Rome.
1750 W. Shenstone Rural Elegance 124 Fame's wide-echoing trumpet.
1816 P. B. Shelley There is no Work 28 The wide-winding caves.
1849 A. A. Paton Highlands & Islands of Adriatic II. xix. 253 The wide-scattered city, with its zone of the glacis, is the foreground of the view.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ix. 258 The common notion..has strong and wide-lying evidence in its favour.
1887 C. A. Moloney Sketch Forestry W. Afr. 301 A wide-climbing shrub.
1914 D. Barnes in A. Berry New York (1989) 151 The wide-spanning arches of red light, is an appeal.
1975 Pop. Mech. Dec. 62/3 A wide-opening shutter whose effective speed is about 1/30 second.
2014 J. Swafford Beethoven xxxii. 892 The wide-arching melodies of the late slow movements.
b.
wide-apart adj.
ΚΠ
1902 S. Crane Last Words 234 He never came out of this manner save in wide-apart cases.
1941 E. Bowen Look at all those Roses 39 The wide-apart birch-trees.
1983 T. Hughes in Listener 21 Apr. 27/1 They have a chirruppy, chicken-sweet expression With goo-goo starlet wide-apart eyes.
2005 Spectator 26 Mar. 61/1 She just shoots them this lingering look from those big wide-apart eyes of hers.
wide-branching adj.
ΚΠ
1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 481 Her wide-branching Arms.
1873 W. D. Howells Chance Acquaintance ii. 39 An audacious, wide-branching mustache.
1927 D. N. Shoemaker Jerusalem Artichoke as Crop Plant (U.S. Dept. Agric. Techn. Bull. No. 33) 17 Its strong-growing, wide-branching habit and its large heavy leaves.
2014 Duke Chron. (Nexis) 13 Nov. 1 The wide-branching web of technology, which connects one corner of the world with another.
wide-circling adj.
ΚΠ
1695 W. Congreve Pindarique Ode on Namure 3 Thro' Seas, Earth, Air, and the wide circling Sky.
1872 J. S. Blackie Lays of Highlands 164 There's room in God's wide-circling arm For all that swear by all the creeds.
2015 Hobart (Austral.) Mercury (Nexis) 28 May 6 This home is a bastion of privacy, with glorious, wide circling views from almost every room over three levels.
wide-expanded adj.
ΚΠ
1649 R. Baxter Saints Everlasting Rest (new ed.) iv. xi. 765 Look up to the glorious Sun; view the wide expanded encompassing heavens.
1867 R. I. Murchison Siluria (new ed.) x. 238 A wide expanded precaudal joint.
2004 V. Crapanzano Imaginative Horizons vii. 207 A little child..whose eyes were wide-expanded as the full-blown lotus-flower.
wide-expanding adj.
ΚΠ
1695 T. D'Urfey Gloriana vii. 12 Four Cherubs..thro' the wide expanding Air, to their Third Heaven flew.
1741 W. Wilkes Ess. Pleasures & Advantages Female Lit. 66 This new erected, venerable Frame, Smiles on a Chrystal, wide-expanding Stream.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 321 A wide-expanding knowledge of the enlargement of mankind.
2005 P. Nabarz tr. in Myst. Mithras App. A 177 Mithra.., Who takes possession of the beautiful, wide-expanding law.
wide-extended adj.
ΚΠ
a1644 F. Quarles Shepheards Oracles (1646) vi. 65 Their vast and wide extended wombs abound With precious oyle.
1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 588 His wide-extended Wings.
1765 Museum Rusticum 4 375 With numerous, wide-extended branches.
1856 London Q. Rev. Oct. 237/2 There are innumerable churches from the domes of which a wide-extended view may be commanded of the city and the country around.
1925 W. P. Reeves Passing of Forest 40 With wide-extended steadfast wings.
2013 Jrnl. Invertebr. Pathol. 113 42 In honey bee colonies the disappearance of foragers is a common factor of the wide extended colony losses.
wide-extending adj.
ΚΠ
1606 E. Forset Compar. Disc. Bodies Nat. & Politique To Reader sig. ¶ iij That wide extending vniuersall.
1889 F. Cowper Capt. of Wight 34 The wide-extending view, over broad pasture and swelling down.
2013 tr. H.-J. Zillmer Energy Mistake vi. 234 This study has documented the stability of methane over a wide extending pressure-temperature range.
wide-flung adj.
ΚΠ
1826 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 677/2 Deep though the umbrage be, and wide-flung the arms of the oaks.
1863 H. W. Longfellow Musician's Tale v. ii, in Tales Wayside Inn 88 The wide-flung door.
2014 Florida Times-Union (Nexis) 5 July b1 The travails and triumphs of a wide-flung group of..people.
wide-gaping adj.
ΚΠ
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall ii. 149 The riuer Fala, falling here, into the seas wide-gaping mouth, hath endowed it [sc. Falmouth] with that name.
a1721 J. Sheffield Wks. (1753) I. 71 The wide-gaping gulph.
1824 T. Horsfield Zool. Res. Java at Calyptomena viridis The posterior union of both mandibles, by which the wide-gaping mouth is formed.
2013 K. Wrenhaven in B. Akrigg & R. Tordoff Slaves & Slavery in Anc. Greek Comic Drama vi. 138 The grotesque mask, complete with..a wide-gaping mouth.
wide-opened adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > [adjective] > wide open or gaping
yawningc893
wideOE
wide open?c1225
gap-wide1582
gaping1594
mouthed1609
patulous1616
wide-opened1635
dehiscent1649
discontinuous1667
patulent1712
hiant1800
yawn-mouthed1861
1635 N. Campbell Treat. upon Death sig. C2 That wide opened sepulchre.
1864 W. W. Skeat tr. J. L. Uhland Songs & Ballads 269 From Heav'n's wide-opened portals.
1917 ‘Windlass’ With the R.N.R. ii. 29 Starkey, whose wide-opened mouth..betokened a total and sonorous disinterest in the proceedings.
2015 Hutchinson (Kansas) News (Nexis) 11 June Birds and animals with wide-opened eyes.
wide-ranging adj.
ΚΠ
1707 E. Settle Carmen Irenicum 15 When thy wide ranging Wings such Glory trace.
1816 Edinb. Rev. Sept. 182 This wide-ranging Intellect was illuminated by the brightest Fancy.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Feb. 76/4 A representative anthology, which is so wide-ranging in its material..that its final effect is rather of confusion than of enlightenment.
1980 B. Hill in Beautiful Brit. Columbia Summer 39 The wide-ranging sheep that are one of the island's main farm products provide the source of wool for local weavers.
2012 Independent 11 Dec. 1/5 Plans to give police and security services wide-ranging powers to snoop on emails and website visits.
wide-reaching adj.
ΚΠ
1629 A. Top Psalm CIV in Bk. Prayses 102 The great and wide reaching Sea.
1758 Enq. into Plan & Pretensions Mr. Sheridan 18 Under pretence of leading us to some fair wide-reaching Prospect, he tempts us to follow him.
1856 G. Grote Hist. Greece XII. ii. xciv. 346 The..powerful, and wide-reaching impression.
1911 J. B. Bury et al. Cambr. Medieval Hist. 551 One of the measures of this Emperor was the assumption of a wide-reaching guardianship.
2001 Times 5 Dec. i. 19/4 Although the group operated far outside the mainstream its impact was wide-reaching.
wide-rolling adj.
ΚΠ
1718 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xiii. 1005 The Waves behind impel the Waves before, Wide-rolling foaming high, and tumbling to the shore.
1785 T. Dwight Conquest of Canäan xi. 295 Wide-rolling dust the neighbouring concave fills.
1805 J. Montgomery Ocean i Thou wide-rolling Ocean, all hail!
2008 P. Weintraub Cure Unknown (2009) i. 26 The wide-rolling lawns of the Long Island town Dix Hills.
wide-spaced adj.
ΚΠ
1850 J. H. Parker Gloss. Terms Grecian, Rom., Ital. & Gothic Archit. (new ed.) I. 34 Araeostyle..i.e. with wide-spaced columns.
1991 Bicycling Feb. 120/2 Any wide-spaced 6-speed freehub can be converted to narrow 7 spacing.
2015 Sc. Daily Mail (Nexis) 3 Sept. 53 Those wide-spaced, intelligent eyes have been more than a match for the ravages of time.
wide-stretched adj.
ΚΠ
1565 in J. Bell Queen Elizabeth & Swedish Princess (1926) 35 Your wyde stretched fame.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V ii. iv. 82 All wide stretched titles that belongs..Vnto the Crowne of France.
1744 E. Young Complaint: Night the Seventh 37 The wide-stretcht Realm of Intellectual Woe.
1924 J. W. Raine Land of Saddle-bags (1977) vii. 167 A dozen academies in these wide-stretched settlements could educate but a few.
2014 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 6 Feb. (Late ed.) c5 Dancers poised in wide-stretched leg positions.
wide-stretching adj.
ΚΠ
1660 A. Brett Restauration 21 That wide stretching Conscience Which can with Royal blood dispence.
1744 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons (new ed.) 232 Wide-stretching from these Shores... A huge neglected Empire.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda IV. viii. lxix. 353 Wide-stretching purposes.
1920 Mariner's Mirror 6 348/1 Wide stretching mud prevents landing at low tide except at a few, generally artificial, causeways.
2014 Washington Post (Nexis) 2 Feb. t1 There is a melancholic cloud that hangs over the film's wide-stretching landscapes.
wide-sweeping adj.
ΚΠ
1815 Hull Packet 3 Oct. The deceased..was by this wide-sweeping calamity suddenly and unexpectedly plunged in a state of bankruptcy.
1924 Motor 14 Oct. 491 (caption) One of the two wide-sweeping bankings on the new speedway at Montlhery, near Paris.
1979 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 127 409/2 Wessex..will therefore not be subjected to wide-sweeping environmental problems.
2015 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 13 July 22 The only way out is to restructure the country's debt, or cancel it altogether and start with fresh capital and wide-sweeping reforms.
† wide-wasting adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1674 J. Milton Paradise Lost (ed. 2) xi. 487 Wide-wasting Pestilence.
1814 W. Wordsworth When Soft Hand of Sleep 145 Wide-wasting Time.
1887 J. Ruskin Let. 23 July in Wks. (1909) XXXVII. 592 I have never yet been so hopeless of doing anything more in this wide-wasting and wasted earth unless we seize and fortify with love—a new Atlantis.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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