▪ I. broadcast, a., adv., n.
(ˈbrɔːdkɑːst, -æ-)
[f. broad adv. + cast pa. pple.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of seed, etc.: Scattered abroad over the whole surface, instead of being sown in drills or rows. b. Of sowing: Performed by this method.
| 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 115 The sowing is either in the broad-cast mode, or by drilling. 1831 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 424 No broad-cast sowing can equal it. 1842 E. J. Lance Cott. Farmer 19 On broad-cast turnips, thirty bushels of lime per acre, was the quantity used. |
2. fig. a. Scattered widely abroad, widely disseminated. b. Wide, as if scattering seed broadcast.
| 1785 Burke Sp. Nab. Arcot's Debts Wks. IV. 205 With a broad-cast swing of his arm, he squanders over his Indian field a sum, etc. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 135 Broadcast accusations. |
3. Disseminated by means of radio or television.
| 1922 Times 6 Apr. 17/7 Request to the Postmaster-General to consider the desirability of including weather forecasts in any broadcast distribution of information by wireless telephony. 1924 Wireless World 3 Sept. 664/1 Broadcast Announcements in Two Languages. 1936 Discovery Apr. 124/2 Mr Thornton's broadcast talks on exotic music are widely known. |
B. adv. Only in phr. to sow broadcast, scatter broadcast, throw, etc. broadcast. a. in Agric.
| 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 38 Scattering the seed..over the whole surface..is..called sowing broad-cast. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 83 Seed sown either broadcast or in drills. |
b. fig.
| 1814 Sir R. Wilson Diary II. 391, I have..thrown broad⁓cast a fruitful grain, and converted the soil of my banishment into a field that ought to be rich in future produce. 1876 Green Short Hist. vi. §6 (1882) 334 A host of spies were scattered broadcast over the land. |
C. n.
1. Broadcast sowing, or mode.
| 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xv. (1813) 60 At broad-cast, trample the seed in with the feet. 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) III. lxxx. 224 The corn has not been sown with broad-cast. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. iii. 50 The rate of seed to the acre..where broadcast is adopted. |
2. The action or an act of broadcasting by radio or television. Also attrib.
| 1922 Daily Mail 8 Aug. 7/3 (heading) World Broadcast. 1924 Reith (title) Broadcast over Britain. 1924 Westm. Gaz. 4 Dec., The Postmaster-General's power to include control over broadcast receivers. 1926 Glasgow Herald 16 Nov. 9 The ban on the broadcast of controversial topics. 1955 Times 10 May 10/3 Whether Sir Winston Churchill will make a sound or television broadcast for the Conservative Party. |
▪ II. ˈbroadcast, v.
[f. as prec. + cast v.]
1. To scatter (seed, etc.) abroad with the hand.
| 1813 A. Young Essex Agric. I. 333 They sow..the barley..spraining the first [half]; and broad-casting the second. 1836 Montgomery Poet's Portfolio 248 Sow in the morn thy seed..Broad-cast it o'er the land. 1846 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. ii. 591 It is preferable to broadcast the guano. |
2. fig. To scatter or disseminate widely.
| 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. iv. 270 The doctrine of missionary zeal..has been broad-cast over Christendom. 1880 Ruskin Lett. to Clergy 369 Showing his detestation of the sale of indulgences by broadcasting these gratis from his pulpit. |
3. To disseminate (a message, news, a musical or dramatic performance, or any audible or visible matter) from a radio or television transmitting station to the receiving sets of listeners and viewers; said also of a speaker or performer. Also absol.
Inflected pa. tense and pa. pple. broadcast (cf. broadcast a. 3); occas. broadcasted.
| 1921 Discovery Apr. 92/1 The [wireless] station at Poldhu is used partly for broadcasting Press and other messages to ships, that is, sending out messages without receiving replies. 1922 Daily Mail 8 Aug. 7/3 The largest and most powerful wireless station that can broadcast to the world. Ibid. 11 Nov. 7 Government arrangements for broadcasting. 1924 Daily News 13 Dec. 6/7 The speech broadcast to our homes to-day. 1956 M. W. Stearns Story of Jazz (1957) xvi. 188 Coon-Sanders..and Henry Halstead broadcasted over the radio. |
Hence ˈbroadcasted ppl. a., = broadcast a. 3. Now rare.
| 1923 Glasgow Herald 3 Feb. 8 In cities the ‘broadcasted’ entertainment can never prove a serious rival to the theatre and concert hall. 1924 Ibid. 28 Aug. 7 The crowning event was the broadcasted evening service at Spurgeon's Tabernacle on Sunday. |