Wide a.

Forms: 1–4 wid, 4–5 (6 Sc.) wyd, 4–6 wyde (4 Sc. vyde, 5 wyyd, wijd, 7 weede), 3– wide. Comp. wider, also, with shortened vowel, 1 widdra, 4 wydder, 4–6 widder (5 -ir, -ur); sup. widest. [Com. Teut. (wanting in Gothic): OE. wíd = OFris., OS. wîd (MLG. wîd, MDu. wijt, Du. wijd, etc.), OHG., MHG. wît (G. weit), ON. víðr (Sw., Da. vid):—OTeut. *widaz; further relations obscure.]

  I.  1. Having great extent (esp. horizontally); vast, spacious, ample, extensive, roomy. Obs. exc. as generalized use of sense 5.

Beowulf, 1859. Þenden ic wealde widan rices.

a. 900.  Cynewulf, Juliana, 9. Wæs his rice brad, wid & weorðlic.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 28. The chambres and the stables weren wyde. Ibid., 491. Wyd was his parisshe and houses fer a sonder.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 15. Cristendom was nyh wydder þan þe empere of Rome.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 9481. He woundit þat worthy in his wide þrote.

1535.  Coverdale, Prov. xxi. 9. It is better to dwell in a corner vnder y^e house toppe, then with a braulinge woman in a wyde house.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 137. This wide and vniuersall Theater Presents more wofull Pageants then the Sceane Wherein we play in.

1600.  1st Pt. Sir J. Oldcastle, V. viii. The wide horrison.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 263. The wide open Places under the Chief Cupuloes of their Buzzars.

1724.  Ramsay, Vision, xvii. A wyde and splendit hall.

1847.  Yeowell, Anc. Brit. Ch., viii. 84. At Iona, or Icolm-kill, in the midst of wide waters.

1871.  G. Macdonald, Wks. Fancy & Imag., Longing, iii. O all wide places, far from feverous towns!… Room! give me room!

  b.  as a conventional epithet of words denoting an extensive area, esp. the earth and the sea (poet. and rhet.); as an epithet of world, in later use sometimes implying contrast to the privacy or security of one’s own home or country.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 104. Ac þes wida grund stod deop & dim.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 542. Sume hi wæron … on widdre sæ besencte.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 12117. Off all þiss wide middellærd Þe kinedomess alle.

c. 1205.  Lay., 112. Eneas þe duc mid his drint folcke Widen iwalken ȝend þ^t wide water.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 60. Ðat was ðe firme morȝen tid, Ðat euere sprong in werld[e] wid.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 13702. Þair lagh wald man suld hir stan, In to midward þis temple wide.

13[?].  K. Horn, 643 (Harl.). Þe kyng rod on hontynge to þe wode wyde.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, II. 934. Alle þe world so wyde and brade, Our Lord speciali for man made.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 179. Al the wide worldes fame Spak worschipe of hire goode name.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 2. Within thay fellis wyde.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. ciii[i]. 25. Yee the earth is full of thy riches. So is this greate and wyde see also.

1591.  Spenser, M. Hubberd, 135. As we bee sonnes of the world so wide.

1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Hecyra, IV. iv. Shall we rather … leaue him to the wide world?

1622.  Peacham, Compl. Gentl., iv. 35. Turne them out into the wide world with a little money in their purses.

1652.  Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 27. The wide Ocean.

1658.  in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 69. The world being wyde she would not venture her conscience upon a disputable point.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, I. i. § 3. These were so fully known to him … that he needed not to go to School to the wide world.

1722.  De Foe, Plague (1756), 141. I shall be turn’d a drift to the wide World.

1842.  Dickens, Amer. Notes, vi. The coarse and bloated faces … have counterparts … all the wide world over.

1844.  Kinglake, Eöthen, xv. A shout that tore the wide air into tatters.

1847.  Buckstone, Flowers of Forest, III. vii. No, no—not for the wide wide world.

1863.  Kingsley, Water-Babies, iii. Tom thought nothing about what the river was like. All his fancy was, to get down to the wide wide sea.

  c.  Of a garment or piece of dress: Capacious; large and loose. Obs. as a specific sense, exc. dial. in wide coat, a great-coat, overcoat.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 56. Nu cumeð forð a feble mon, & halt him þauh heihliche, ȝif he haueð enne widne hod & one ilokene cope.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Monk’s Prol., 61. Why werestow so wyd a Cope?

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 271. Thenne hadde ich wonder of hus wordes and of hus wide cloþes.

c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 196. His cloþes were lompurt, and scho wold haue amende hom, but scho myght noi, for þay wern so wyde.

1511.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., IV. 197. To be the King ane wyd doublete fra Maistir Johne of Murray.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 256. And there the snake throwes her enammel’d skinne, Weed wide enough to rap a Fairy in.

1609.  J. Davies, Humour’s Heaven, I. iv. Poliphagus a sute of Satten ware, Made wide and side.

1825.  Brockett, N. C. Gloss., Wide-coat, an upper or great coat.

  2.  transf. Extending over or affecting a large space or region; far-reaching, extensive. Chiefly poet.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Satan, 189. Þæs ðe ic ʓeþohte adrifan drihten of selde,… sceal [ic] nu wreclastas settan sorhʓceariʓ siðas wide.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 24991. He es tald alsun o sight sa wide, Þat fra his sight mai naman hide.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. ix. 23. They [sc. the winds] … tosse the deepes, and teare the firmament, And all the world confound with wide vprore.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 660. He [sc. a snake] rages in the Fields, and wide Destruction threats.

1818.  Keats, Endym., II. 307. O woodland Queen,… Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos Of thy disparted nymphs?

1841.  G. P. R. James, Corse de Leon, i. A turn where they could obtain a wider view.

1859.  Hawthorne, Marble Faun, xxxiii. After wide wanderings through the valley [etc.].

  b.  Coal-mining. (See quot. 1883, and cf. WIDE adv. 1 c.)

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Wide Work. A South Yorkshire system (now nearly obsolete) of working coal. Sets of short stalls or banks, 7 or 8 yards in width, forming a line of faces about 60 yards, were carried to the rise, about 3 or 4 feet of coal being left between each bank, the main road pillars being subsequently extracted.

1904.  Times, 23 May, 7/6. Men engaged on ‘wide’ work were paid yardage to which they were not entitled.

  † 3.  Great (in various non-physical senses). Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2200. Þis nembrot wit his mike pride Wend to wyrk wondres wide. Ibid., 20030. For ai þe mar i soght to sai, Þe widder suld i find þe wai. Ibid., 23104. Wreches stad in wa ful wide.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 403. Now by-gynneþ … my grace to growe ay wydder and wydder.

c. 1400–50.  Wars Alex., 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.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems, xxxvi. 62. Lowse thow my lippis, that tyme and tyd I may gif to the lovingis wyd.

  4.  fig. Having a large range; comprising, affecting, applying or relating to a great number or variety of persons, cases, subjects, points, etc.; extensive, largely inclusive; (of a word or term) having a large extent of meaning: = BROAD a. 10.

  Common since 1800.

1534.  Whitinton, Tullyes Offices, I. D 4. Therfore ryseth the large and wyde prayse by rhetoriciens of Marathon [orig. Hinc rhetorum campus de Marathone].

a. 1600.  Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xliii. 35. So wyd thy word does waxe That the immortall maks.

1670.  Milton, Hist. Eng., II. 77. These perpetual exploits abroad won him wide fame.

1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, III. iv. I fear the misfortunes of Mr. Belfield have spread a ruin wider than his own.

1797.  Malone, Sir 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.

1843.  Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. I. I. ii. I want a definition of art wide enough to include all its varieties of aim.

1856.  Miss Mulock, J. Halifax, xxxvi. The boy—to whose destination we had no clue but the wide word, America.

1858.  Mrs. Paul, Uncle Ralph, xxii. ‘Never is a wide word, Miriam,’ said Ailie.

1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., i. 13, note. His wide knowledge of ethnography.

1868.  Nettleship, Ess. Browning, i. 54. How to use each his own and his mistresses’ attributes for the widest good.

1868.  M. Pattison, Academ. Org., 2. The ideas of the wider public.

1895.  Bookman, Oct., 15/1. [His] wide experience as a teacher … and an inspector of schools.

  b.  Of views or opinions, or transf. of the person holding them: = BROAD a. 11.

1824.  Macaulay, Athen. Orators, ¶ 22. States have always been best governed by men who have taken a wide view of public affairs.

1833.  Tennyson, Two Voices, xlii. When, wide in soul and bold of tongue, Among the tents I paused and sung.

1884.  Spectator, 19 April, 513/2. The good old Evangelical of to-day may well say of both the High Churchman and the Wide Churchman, as John the Baptist said of the Master of both, ‘He must increase, and I must decrease.’ Ibid. The Wide Church or High-Church circles.

  † c.  Vague. Obs. rare.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 288. Though his Verses are most Elegant,… yet the description is very wide.

  II.  5. Having great extent from side to side; large across, or in transverse measurement. (Opp. to narrow.)

  Now distinguished from broad in so far as it tends to be restricted to applications in which actual mensuration from point to point is possible or contemplated, and in which there is no implication of superficial extent; hence in certain technical uses (see quots.).

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. vii. 13. Þæt ʓeat is swyþe wid, & se weʓ is swiþe rum, þe to forspillednesse ʓelæt.

11[?].  in Birch, Cartul. (1887), II. 207. Ðonon to widan ʓeate; ðonon to eadulfes mære.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1632. Þu sal … Mak a dor wit mesur wide. Ibid., 8081. Þair muthes wide, þair eien brade, Vn-freli was þair face made.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, III. 23. Till sum gaiff thai woundis wid.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (Jacobus), 302. On a bryge, as þai can ryd Our a wattyr, depe and wyd.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, II. 289. Euery sercle causynge othir Wydder than hym self was.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 526/1. Wyyd, large yn brede.

1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 22. Christis woundis wyde.

1632.  Milton, L’Allegro, 76. Shallow Brooks, and Rivers wide.

1642.  Tasman, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1694), 135. Those Men when they walked made very wide paces.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VIII. 467. Wide was the wound, But suddenly with flesh fill’d up & heal’d.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., I. 173. A purple carpet spread the pavement wide.

1841.  Penny Cycl., XIX. 236/2. One of the great recommendations of a wide gauge.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869), 416. Making experiments in the cultivation of wheat in wide drilling and thin seeding.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Wide Spade (Whaling), used to cut the blubber in the rough, before mincing.

1888.  Jacobi, Printers’ Voc., Wide measures, long and wide measures of type, distinct from narrow or short ones.

  b.  transf. of the lateral boundaries: Having a wide space between, far apart. (Cf. 7 and 8.)

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, i. It runs between green banks which grow wider and wider until at last it joins the broad vast sea.

  6.  Having a specified or particular transverse measurement indicated by a numerical quantity or by a comparison; (so much) across.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 127. Hwene widdre þonne bydenfæt.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 1307. Fær ʓewyrc fiftiʓes wid, ðrittiʓes heah, þreohund lang elnʓemeta.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 565. Ðat arche was … .l.^ti elne wid, and .xxx.^ti heȝ.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 7503. Graunte me … Namore lond, wyd ne syd, Þan y may sprede a boles hyd.

c. 1400.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxxvi. 84. A traylyng gowne or twelue yerdes wyde.

a. 1400–50.  Wars Alex., 1324. Þurȝe þaim he rynnes, And makis a wai wyde enoȝe waynes to mete.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. xi. 347. That these schoon be notabli widdir than the meetenes of hem wolde aske. Ibid. These schoon to be no wijdir than euen meete to hise sones feet.

1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Sept., 210. Had his wesand bene a little widder, He would haue deuoured both hidder and shidder.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. i. 100 ’Tis not so deepe as a well, nor so wide as a Church doore.

1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 11. A Bed-chamber … Thirty foot wide. Ibid., 19. Windowes … must be higher then wide.

1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 637. Take half-inch and two inch wide rods or laths.

1918.  Times Lit. Suppl., 28 March, 152/1. The island is small … and at its widest part about a mile and a half in width.

  7.  Opened widely, expanded; of the arms, stretched widely apart. Now superseded in general use by wide open (see WIDE adv. 3).

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 335. Ȝit tuk I neuir the wosp clene out of my wyde throte.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 449 b. That a wyder entrie be not set open to y^e Turkes to inuade us.

1607.  Puritan, I. iv. 96. Speake lowe, George; Prison Rattes haue wider eares then those in Malt-lofts.

1611.  Bible, Isa. lvii. 4. Against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 762. All access was throng’d, the Gates And Porches wide.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 431. The Mares … with wide Nostrils snuff the Western Air.

1707.  E. Smith, Phædra & Hippolitus, I. 1. She from his wide, deceiv’d, desiring Arms Flew tastless.

1820.  Keats, St. Agnes, iv. Many a door was wide.

1822.  Galt, Provost, xxxvi. With wide and wild arms, like a witch in a whirlwind.

1867.  Morris, Jason, XV. 839. The three … gazed at him with wide eyes wondering.

  (b)  sup. as quasi-sb. in phr. at widest.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. i. 63. Though euery drop of water sweare against it, And gape at widst to glut him.

  b.  Phonetics. Of a vowel sound: Pronounced with the tongue relaxed, or with a wider opening between it and some other part of the mouth than the corresponding narrow vowel.

1867.  A. M. Bell, Visible Speech, 72. The vowels—whether ‘Primary,’ ‘Wide,’ or ‘Rounded’—are divided into three classes of palato-lingual formations.

1890.  [see NARROW a. 1 d].

  III.  8. Extending far between limits; existing between two things that are far apart, literally or figuratively, as a distance or interval, a distinction or difference.

  To give a wide berth to: see BERTH sb. 1.

1589.  Puttenham, Engl. Poesie, II. ix. (Arb.), 96. Bycause your concordes containe the chief part of Musicke in your meetre, their distaunces may not be too wide or farre a sunder.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 194. The wide difference ’Twixt Amorous, and Villanous.

1746.  Francis, trans. Hor. Epist., II. ii. 293. The wide Distinction … Between an open, hospitable Man, And Prodigal; the Frugalist secure, And Miser, pinch’d with Penury.

1857.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org. (1862), i. § 2. 49. The wider is the interval between the respective places in the series.

1865.  Ruskin, Sesame, ii. § 75. There is a wide difference between elementary knowledge and superficial knowledge.

1912.  Daily Tel., 19 Dec., 2/2. Among foreign railways, Brasil Ordinary was weak, but after some wide fluctuations San Paulo finished at a substantial improvement.

  † 9.  Situated a great way off, distant, far; in quot. 1590, held at a distance, not close. Also, situated at a specified distance (const. of = from). Obs.

  Only predicative, or following the sb.; thus nearly approaching WIDE adv. 4.

a. 1400[?].  Arthur, 552. [He] strenghthed hym on eche syde Wyth Men of contreys ferre & wyde.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. cii[i]. 12. Look how wyde the east is from the west, so farre hath he set oure synnes from vs.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 36. His poinant speare he thrust … At proud Cymochles, while his shield was wyde.

1597.  J. Dee, Diary (Camden), 59. Calcot in Chesshyre, abowt six myles wide of Chester.

1682.  O. Heywood, Diaries (1885), IV. 76. A place … 4 miles wide of St. Albans.

1729.  Swift, Hist. 2nd Solomon, Wks. 1841, II. 329. He was to set out … to another part of the kingdom, thirty miles wide of the place appointed.

1854.  R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., xxxvi. Shortstubble put him on a line as wide of his own wheat as he could.

  b.  fig. Far, far apart (in nature, character, views, statements, etc.); not in accordance, disagreeing, different; foreign, alien; far from (doing something). Const. from, of. (Often approaching or coinciding with 10 b.) Now rare.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., Pref. **v b. Valerius Maximus and Plinius, in the reportyng of a certain alter[c]acion y^t was betwene Cn. Domitius & Lucius Crassus…, how wyde been thei the one from the other.

1545[?].  Brinklow, Compl., 11. What a cruell lawe is this! how farre wyde from the Gospel, yea from the lawe of nature also.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, II. (1577), G iij b. It seemeth a matter very wide from reason.

1506.  W. P., trans. Curio’s Pasquine in Traunce, 9 b. The which things … were al farre wide … from that true & most pure virgin the Lords mother.

1600.  Marston, etc., Jack Drum’s Entert., I. (1601), C 3 b. Those that are farre more yong and wittie, Are wide from singing such a Dittie.

1630.  Hakewill, Apol. (ed. 2), Advts. Zz 2 b. How farre wide the foure most noted doctours of the Westerne Church … were in the exposition of many passages of holy Scripture.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 7 Nov. 1691. The relation he gave … was very wide from what we fancied.

1754.  Hume, Hist. Eng., I. Chas. I., iii. 199. That rustic contempt of the fair sex, which James affected … was very wide of the disposition of this monarch.

1807.  Bentham, Mem. & Corr., Wks. 1843, X. 423. My own notions … were too wide of the notions prevalent among lawyers.

1812.  Cary, Dante, Parad., VIII. 136. Hence befals That Esau is so wide of Jacob.

1871.  Earle, Philol. Engl. Tongue, 244. Languages whose development has been wide of ours, as the Hebrew.

  c.  Situated far apart in a series: spec. in Cards (see quot.).

1897.  R. F. Foster, Complete 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.

  10.  Deviating from the aim, or from the direct or proper course; missing the mark or the way; going astray. Also const. of († from). (Most commonly predicative, approaching or coinciding with WIDE adv. 5.) a. lit.; spec. in Cricket, of a ball bowled too far aside from the wicket for the batsman to strike it (now usually ellipt.: see WIDE sb. 3).

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 135. Wide a’ th bow hand, yfaith your hand is out.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., V. xii. 70. If the Shot be both wide and too low.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Wide, when the Biass of the Bowl holds not enough.

1851.  Lillywhite, Guide Cricketers, 13. The Umpire must take especial care to call … ‘Wide Ball’ as soon as it shall pass the Striker.

1853.  ‘C. Bede,’ Verdant Green, I. xi. The first ball was ‘wide.’

1854.  Lever, Sir Jasper Carew, xl. His guards were all wide, and his eyes unsteady.

  b.  fig. (a) without prep. (now rare): in early use often = Astray in opinion or belief, mistaken (now expressed by the full phr. wide of the mark). In quot. 1605, perh. Wandering in mind, delirious.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, I. (1577), E v b. Whoso heareth him, may … thinke y^t he also with very little a do, might attaine to y^t perfection, but when he commeth to y^t proofe, shall finde himselfe farre wide.

1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 140/2. Let vs see if this be well practised, alas, the matter is farre wide [orig. Helas il s’en faut beaucoup].

1592.  Kyd, Sp. Trag., III. xi. Tis neither as you thinke, nor as you thinke, Nor as you thinke; you ’r wide all.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, IV. vii. 50. Lear. You are a spirit I know, when did you dye? Cor. Still, still, farre wide.

1621.  T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 107. To them that are wide, and strangers to the true light.

1632.  Massinger, Maid of Hon., II. ii. You are wide, the whole field wide. I in my understanding Pitty your ignorance.

a. 1652.  Brome, City Wit, V. i. 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.

1687.  Settle, Refl. Dryden, 83. He was a little wide there.

  (b)  Const. from (now rare or obs.), of: esp. in phr. wide of the mark.

  Sometimes scarcely distinguishable from 9 b.

1566.  W. P., trans. Curio’s Pasquine in Traunce, 34 b. They are so farre wyde from the institution of Christ, & from the truth.

1587.  Mirr. Mag., Stater, i. Of wit and of reason recklesse and wide, That tooke so vppon vs to rule all the land.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., 115. Though I should talke of halfe as manie more, I should not be farre wide of the truth.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. vii. 28. How wide he is from truth.

1672.  W. Walker, Parœm., 29. You are quite out of the way; wide of the mark; clearly mistaken;… Tota erras via.

1681.  W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 1321. He is wide of the cushion; errat longè.

1711.  in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 112. A lasting happiness, of which they are wide … thro’ want of religion.

1735.  Berkeley, Def. Free-thinking, § 46. Your Comment must be wide of the Author’s meaning.

1747.  Mem. Nutrebian Crt., II. 25. Sentiments … you think so wide from the duty I should … pay.

1813.  T. Busby, Lucretius, II. IV. Comm., p. xv. In his solar images he is not quite so wide from the fact.

1836.  G. S. Faber, Prim. Doctr. Election, II. vi. (1842), 339. Most wide, then, from the mark … is the modern Calvinist.

1846.  Dickens, Cricket on Hearth, iii. You had best not interrupt me … till you understand me; and you’re wide of doing so. Ibid. (1848), Dombey, xl. These questions … are all wide of the purpose.

1892.  Sat. Rev., 15 Oct., 442/2. This belief of the French critic is not so very wide of the mark.

  † c.  Amiss. Obs. rare.

1614.  Bp. Hall, Contempl., Aaron & Miriam. It were wide for vs, if our suites should be euer heard. Ibid., Rahab. It would bee wide with the best of vs, if the eye of God should looke backward to our former estate.

  11.  a. Going beyond bounds of restraint, propriety or virtue; † unrestrained, violent (obs.); lax, loose, immoral (now colloq. or slang). (Cf. BROAD a. 6, 8.)

1574.  Satir. Poems Reform., xlii. 395. The Courteour, with wordis wyde, Said ‘I hear nathing bot prouyde, And get now that, and get now this.’

1656.  G. Collier, Answ. 15 Quest., Pref. Any man that hath not a weak head and a wide conscience.

1902.  Wister, Virginian, xiii. Wide females in pink.

1904.  Daily Chron., 29 Nov., 3/4. Madrid was full of ‘wide’ characters.

  b.  Going beyond bounds of moderation; excessive, immoderate. (Cf. slang tall, steep.)

1858.  Greener, Gunnery, Advts. 2. Producing … guns equal, if not superior, to anything yet produced by any maker whatever. This may be considered a wide assertion, but to prove he does not make it rashly he is prepared to test the fact by a competition with any maker.

1895.  Daily News, 3 Sept., 7/5. Prices [of hops] asked are very wide, and are beyond the values that merchants are disposed to give.

  c.  slang. Wide-awake, cute.

1887.  J. W. Horsley, Jottings from Jail, 9. 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.’

  IV.  12. Comb. a. Parasynthetic, forming adjs. in -ED² (unlimited in number), as wide-arched, -armed, -banked, -branched, -brimmed, -chapped († -chopt), -handed, -hearted, -jointed, -lipped, -minded, -necked, -realmed, -skirted, -sleeved, -spaced, -spanned, -streeted, -throated, -wayed, etc. b. Rarely with simple sbs., forming adjs. in sense ‘having, involving, pertaining or relating to a (or the) wide ——,’ as wide-head, -row, world. c. Special Combs.: wide-angle a., applied to a lens of short focus, the field of which extends through a wide angle, used for photographing at short range; wide-eared a., having wide ears; also in sense 7, having the ears wide open, listening intently; wide-eyed a., having wide eyes; usually in sense 7, having the eyes wide open, gazing intently; also fig.; wide-gab, local Sc. name for the fishing-frog or frog-fish; wide-leafed, -leaved a., having a wide leaf or leaves; transf. of a hat, broad-brimmed; † wide-side a. [SIDE a.¹], wide and long, capacious; wide-winged a., having wide wings; flying through a wide space or region (chiefly poet.). See also WINE-MOUTHED, -WATERED.

1878.  Abney, Photogr. (1881), 204. The next lens … is what is known as a *‘wide angle’ doublet, in which the separation between the lenses is very small, and their foci considerably shorter…. Some of these combinations are made so as to cover a circle whose diameter subtends an angle of 90° from the optical centre.

1820.  Keats, Lamia, II. 121. The glowing banquet-room shone with *wide-arched grace.

1898.  G. Meredith, Odes Fr. Hist., 27. With view of *wide-armed heaven.

1903.  Kipling, 5 Nations, 73. Beside *wide-banked Ouse.

1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, i. Short-stemmed, *wide-branched oaks.

1918.  J. W. Gerard, Face to face with Kaiserism, xv. 212. One young Magnate was at a restaurant with an actress who wore a *wide brimmed hat.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. i. 60. This *wide-chopt-rascall.

1684.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1976/4. A black Coach Mare…, a little *wide Eared.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., iv. The boys listened, wide-eyed and wide-eared.

1788.  Cowper, Gratitude, 11. This wheel-footed studying chair,… *Wide-elbow’d, and wadded with hair.

1853.  Tennyson, in Ld. T., Mem. (1897), I. 369. The *wide-eyed wonder of a babe has a grandeur in it.

1855.  Kingsley, Heroes, Argon., I. 80. The boy listened wide-eyed.

1894.  Woodrow Wilson, in Forum (N.Y.) Feb., 717. Madison’s conservative temper and wide-eyed prudence in counsel.

1808.  Neil in Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. (1811), I. 548. L[ophius] piscatorius.… Frog-fish…. In the North Isles of Scotland, it is … termed the *Wide-gab, the mouth being hideously large.

1836.  Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, I. 269. The Fishing Frog. Angler. Sea Devil. Wide Gab. Scotland.

1600.  Breton, Pasquil’s Foole’s-cappe, Wks. (Grosart), I. 20/2. In the aime of Wisdomes eye, *Wide handed Wits will euer shoote awry.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 321. The *wide-head oaks.

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! viii. The old Anglo-Norman teachableness and *wide-heartedness.

1917.  Blackw. Mag., Nov., 677/1. Ladies narrow in their interests,… but wide-hearted.

1874.  J. H. Parker, Introd. Gothic Archit., I. i. (ed. 4), 11. *Wide-jointed masonry is a usual characteristic of the eleventh century in England and Normandy.

1680.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1527/4. Open *wide-kneed Breeches.

1855.  Motley, Dutch Rep., VI. vii. (1866), 894. He wore a *wide-leaved … hat of dark felt.

1894.  Weyman, Man in Black, ix. A dark, sallow man,… with a wide-leafed hat.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxxviii. Those *wide-lipped crystal vessels … in which chemists … measure out their liquid drugs.

1883.  A. Barratt’s Phys. Metemp., Pref. p. xx. In politics his sympathies were liberal and *wide-minded.

1914.  Tollinton, Clement of Alex., II. xx. 273. Wide-minded teachers, who have the power to discern affinities and to greet the ally in disguise.

1880.  J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 69. A *wide-necked glass-stoppered bottle.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., XIII. 506. At his side a wretched scrip was hung, *Wide-patch’d, and knotted to a twisted thong.

1838.  Mrs. Browning, Island, ix. *Wide-petalled plants.

1821.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides, 9 Nov. (1885), I. 28. The advantages of the *wide-row culture.

1606.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. II. Magnificence, 266. Glory … Her *wide-side Robes … All Story-wrought with bloudy Victories.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, I. i. 66. Champains rich’d With plenteous Riuers, and *wide-skirted Meades.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xxxvii. The coat was wide-skirted.

c. 1590.  Greene, Fr. Bacon, xi. 129. A *wide sleeued gowne.

1665.  Brathwait, Comm. Two Tales (1901), 62. She was gap-tooth’d, or *wide-spaced.

1889.  Pall Mall Gaz., 30 Aug., 3/2. Wide-spaced houses, beautiful gardens, [etc.].

a. 1878.  Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit. (1879), I. 65. *Wide-spanned arches.

1868.  M. Collins, Sweet Anne Page, III. 187. *Wide-streeted Troy.

1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Papado, *wide throated.

a. 1627.  Middleton, Mayor of Quinb., I. i. Will that wide-throated Beast, the multitude, Never leave bellowing?

1791.  Cowper, Iliad, X. 8. Wide-throated war calamitous.

1848.  Buckley, Iliad, 23. The *wide-wayed city of the Trojans.

1818.  Shelley, Hom. Moon, 3. Muses … Sing the *wide-winged Moon!

1848.  Bailey, Festus (ed. 3), 250. The wide-winged wind.

1871.  Tennyson, Last Tourn., 423. 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.

1851.  Ruskin, Stones Ven., 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.