▪ I. abroad, adv. and prep. and n.
(əˈbrɔːd)
Forms: 3–4 a brod, 4 a-brood, 5 on brode, 5–6 a-brode, 6 abroade, 6– abroad.
[f. a prep.1 on, in, at + broad a. Cf. a-long, at large, and a-brede, OE. on brede, mod.Sc. a breid.]
A. adv.
1. a. Broadly, widely, at large, over a broad or wide surface.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 542 That win orn abrod so, That it was pite gret of so much harm ido. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour. g viij b, Plenty of sylke and clothe of gold was there abrode. 1611 Bible Rom. v. 5 The loue of God is shed abroad in our hearts. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery xiv. 216 Pour it on it and spread it abroad with a rolling-pin. 1839 Carlyle Chartism (1858) iii. 14 Would to Heaven one could preach it abroad into the hearts of all sons and daughters of Adam. |
b. Widely asunder, with the fragments or portions widely scattered.
| c 1260 E.E.P. (1862) 6 Al þat þou wan here wiþ pine, a-bro[d] þin eir sal wast it al. c 1400 Apol. for Lollards 73 He þat gedreþ not wiþ Me, he sckateriþ a brod. 1483 Caxton Golden Leg. 165/2 A man in that companye..smote hym on the heed that his brayne fyl alle abrode. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. i. 106 The angry Northerne winde Will blowe these sands like Sibels leaues abroad. 1654 G. Goddard in Burton's Diary (1828) I. 79 The Parliament had already taken the Government abroad, (in pieces was meant,) and had altered and changed it. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. x. 127 Then a chance will come, a holiday, When, piece by piece, can one abroad the things display. |
c. Widely apart, with the parts or limbs wide spread.
| c 1430 Syr Generides 4487 With his armes spred on brode To Ismael his brodre he rode. c 1440 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. C. 242 He wille sprede his armes on brade [1450 abrade]. 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings xix. 14 Whan Ezechias had receaued the letters..[he] layed them abrode before the Lorde. 1598 Gerarde Herball i. xxxv. §5. 50 But the leaues be more spred abroad. 1627 Bacon New Atlantis 6 At his coming he did bend to us a little, and put his arms abroad. 1769–90 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. (1876) x. 15 The locks of the hair are flying abroad in all directions. 1847 Longfellow Evan. i. v. 116 Stretched abroad on the seashore motionless lay his form. |
† d. Hence, Naut. ‘An old word for spread pa. pple.; as all sail abroad.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
| 1667 Lond. Gaz. cxxxvi/1 The Dragon Fregat appearing with Dutch Colours abroad, the Captain..remanded his Men. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 187 The Admiral made the signal..for those who were to lead, to do so with the starboard tacks abroad by a wind. |
2. lit. At large; freely moving about; and fig. current in the outside world.
| c 1500 Robin Hood ii. vii. 11 Sad news I hear there is abroad, I fear all is not well. 1538 Starkey England 148 For I wot not whether I may speke thys a-brode. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 190 Ther's villanie abroad, this letter will tell you more. 1699 Bentley Phalaris 364 In the interval of time between them..these pretended Laws of Charondas came abroad. 1704 Ray Creation ii. 288 What is abroad round about us in this aspectable World. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 365 He was perfectly aware of the suspicions which were abroad. |
3. Out of one's house or abode; out of doors; out in the open air.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 176 To bere bischopes aboute, abrode in visytynge. 1553 Udall Roister Doister (1869) 42 I bid him keepe him warme at home For if he come abroade, he shall cough me a mome. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 107 I am glad to see your Lordship abroad: I heard say your Lordship was sicke. I hope your Lordship goes abroad by aduise. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 101 Any floor level with the ground receives more dirt from abroad. 1728 Young Love of Fame (1757) v. 127 Tho' sick to death, abroad they safely roam. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. iv. 296 He found me not, as I was abroad dining with a friend. 1859 Jephson Brittany iii. 23 The whole population was abroad, either reaping or threshing. Mod. The badger ventures abroad only after dusk. |
4. Out of the home country; in or into foreign lands. from abroad: from foreign lands.
| c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxvii. 679 Estward ayens the sonne lokeden they there Ful fer abrod into the Se. 1559 Myrroure for Mag. Salisbury xv. 7 The one at home, the other abrode in Fraunce. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. viii. 66 Calling home our exil'd Friends abroad. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 5, I resolv'd not to think of going Abroad any more, but to settle at Home. 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley vi. 85 The Welsh iron-masters had now rivals abroad. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 317 At the close of the reign of Charles the Second, great part of the iron which was used in the country was imported from abroad. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt Epil. 429 He was understood to have gone to reside at a great distance; some said ‘abroad,’ that large home of ruined reputations. |
5. Wide of the mark or the truth; ‘out,’ astray.
| 1806 J. Beresford Miseries I. i. 5 Unless I am quite abroad still; and if so, I will humbly wait, while you..clarify my understanding. a 1828 J. Bernard Retrosp. Stage (1830) I. ix. 283 The actors appearing to be all abroad when they were at home. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. (C.D. ed.) vi. 33 I'm only a little abroad, that's all. 1842 Thackeray Van. Fair i. 5 At the twelfth round the latter champion was all abroad, as the saying is, and had lost all presence of mind. 1876 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma 244 The first deals successfully with nearly the whole of life, while the second is all abroad in it. |
B. prep. [The adv. with place expressed]. Out, over, throughout. Obs. or arch.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froissart I. ccxxxv. 330 So then the prince's host spred abrode that countre. 1653 Baxter Peace of Consc. 51 [They] will proclaim abroad the world that our Ministers are Legalists. 1662 Stillingfleet Orig. Sacr. (ed. 3) i. vi. §5. 99 And walk abroad the world. |
¶ Used as adj.; and elliptically for go abroad.
| 1550 Lever Sermons 29 Their riches muste abrode in the countrey, to bie fermes. 1615 Chapman Odyssey xvi. 551 Then to the queen was come The Wooers' plot, to kill her son at home, Since their abroad design had miss'd success. 1676 Sir C. Cotterell tr. Cassandra vi. 97 We must abroad again. |
C. n. [cf. adv. sense 4 and quot. 1866.] Any region outside one's homeland.
| 1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 98 She was somewhere over in that beastly abroad. 1925 R. Macaulay Casual Commentary 138 Restaurants and hotels are getting fuller. Abroad is getting fuller. 1934 H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiog. II. 565 ‘Abroad’ was a slightly terrifying world of adventure. 1945 N. Mitford Pursuit of Love xv. 114 ‘Frogs,’ he would say, ‘are slightly better than Huns or Wops, but abroad is unutterably bloody and foreigners are fiends.’ 1958 K. Amis I like it Here iii. 40 Why was abroad occupied exclusively by the Romance-speaking family of nations? |
¶ Examples of a comparative form.
| 1923 E. Sidgwick Restoration i. 16 Henry was abroad; he had meant to go abroad, and he had gone abroader than anybody less happily-guided than himself had ever dreamed of. 1939 A. Thirkell Before Lunch vii. 190, I never can think why when people say abroad they mean France as a rule, and yet most other places are much abroader than France. |
▪ II. abroad
occ. by confusion for aboard, abrood.