[A literary formation of the 17th century, taking the place of wĭdness WIDENESS (which is the usual word in modern dialects), the short vowel of breadth (6–7 bredth) providing an analogy. Johnson, 1755, calls it ‘a low word.’]
1. Extent across, or from side to side; transverse dimension: = BREADTH 1; occas. extent of opening, distance apart (of the two parts of something, as a pair of compasses).
† In first quot. quasi-concr. Opening: = WIDENESS 4 b.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt, cxlii. Whence from the wydth of many a gaping wound, There’s many a soule into the Ayre must flye.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., v. 82. For the width of the Mortess Gage this side,… then for the Tennant, Gage on that end of the Quarter you intend the Tennant shall be made.
1731. W. Halfpenny, Perspective, 22. The Perspective Widths of the Squares, parallel to EF.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Astley’s. A child … with very large round eyes, opened to their utmost width.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, xliv. The river was here a rapid stream four hundred yards in width.
1859. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 264. The two remain’d Apart by all the chamber’s width.
1871. A. Meadows, Man. Midwifery (ed. 2), 186. The power of the forceps increases with the length of its blades,… the compressing power … is dependent first upon the character of the lock … and secondly upon the width or divergence of the blades.
1902. S. E. White, Blazed Trail, xviii. Thin, flexible cedar strips of certain arbitrary lengths and widths.
2. Large extent across, or in general: = WIDENESS 1, 2. Also fig. (cf. BREADTH 1, WIDENESS 5).
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 388. Let thy Vines in Intervals be set,… Indulge their Width, and add a roomy Space, That their extreamest Lines may scarce embrace.
1832. L. Hunt, Sir R. Esher (1850), 349. The general width of his manner, if I may so call it. Ibid. (1841), Seer (1864), 54. Milton … was never weak in his creed…; he forced it into width enough to embrace all place and time.
3. quasi-concr. A wide region or expanse: cf. BREADTH 2 b.
1866. Lytton, Lost Tales Miletus, Secret Way. 29. ’Mid funeral earth-mounds, skirting widths of plain.
4. concr. = BREADTH 2.
1876. ‘Ouida,’ Winter City, iii. In the back widths of her skirt.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, Width, a term employed in dressmaking, synonymously with that of Breadth; meaning the several lengths of material employed in making a skirt, which—according to the fashion of the day—is composed of a certain number, gored or otherwise. The term Breadth is more generally in use.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 242. She mounted the steps, and I watched her go on her knees right up to the altar … I am sure she would need a new width in the front of her dress.
Hence Widthless a., having no (great) width, narrow; Widthways, -wise adv., in the direction of the width, transversely.
1852. Meanderings of Mem., I. 98. The *widthless road.
1794. S. Williams, Vermont, 316. When applied to uses which require plaiting *widthways.
1890. W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 63. If they are to be curved lengthways or widthways.
1882. Blades, Caxton, 105. The mould … was capable of a sliding adjustment, *widthwise to the width of the various letters.
1900. O. Onions, Compl. Bach., xv. [She] looked me up, down, widthwise, and through, and found no speech.
