broad

Etymology 1

From Middle English brood, brode, from Old English brād (“broad, flat, open, extended, spacious, wide, ample, copious”), from Proto-West Germanic *braid, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz (“broad”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots braid (“broad”), West Frisian breed (“broad”), Saterland Frisian breed (“broad”), Low German breed (“broad”), breet, Dutch breed (“broad”), German breit (“broad, wide”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål bred (“broad”), Norwegian brei (“broad”), Icelandic breiður (“broad, wide”).

adj

1. Wide in extent or scope.
   three feet broad
   the broad expanse of ocean
   Julia Farrington, head of arts at Index on Censorship, argues that extra powers to ban violent videos online will "end up too broad and open to misapplication, which would damage freedom of expression". April 19, 2012, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian
   Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches. 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
2. Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full.
   broad and open day 1720, William Bartlet, a sermon
   crushing the minds of its victims in the broad and open day May 12, 1860, Eliza Watson, Witches and witchcraft (in Once A Week, No. 46.)
3. Having a large measure of any thing or quality; unlimited; unrestrained.
4. Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged.
   The words in the Constitution are broad enough to include the case. 1819, D. Daggett, Sturges v. Crowninshield
   in a broad, statesmanlike, and masterly way 1859, Edward Everett, Daniel Webster: An Oration On the Occasion of the Dedication of the Statue of Mr. Webster,
5. Plain; evident.
   a broad hint
6. General rather than specific.
   to be in broad agreement
7. (writing) Unsubtle; obvious.
   Lee: I wrote that line for you. Maeve: A bit broad, if you ask me. 2018-4-22, “Journey into Night” (39:17 from the start), in Westworld, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Maeve Millay and Lee Sizemore (Thandie Newton and Simon Quarterman), via HBO
8. Free; unrestrained; unconfined.
9. (dated) Gross; coarse; indelicate.
   a broad compliment; a broad joke; broad humour
10. (of an accent) Strongly regional.
    She still has a broad Scottish accent, despite moving to California 20 years ago.
11. (Gaelic languages) Velarized, i.e. not palatalized.

noun

1. (UK) A shallow lake, one of a number of bodies of water in eastern Norfolk and Suffolk.
2. A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders.
3. (UK, historical) A British gold coin worth 20 shillings, issued by the Commonwealth of England in 1656.
4. (film, television) A kind of floodlight.
   […] fresnel spotlights, old-type broads, sky-pans, cone-lights, etc. 1974, The Video Handbook, page 71
   Some broads have barn doors (see page 115) to block gross light spill into other set areas; others have even an adjustable beam, […] 1976, Herbert Zettl, Television Production Handbook, volume 10, page 105
   Light bounced from large white surfaces (e.g., matte reflector boards, or a white ceiling). Floodlights include scoops, broads, floodlight, banks, internally reflected units, strip lights, and cyclorama lights. 2015, Jim Owens, Television Production, page 194
5. (slang, archaic) A playing card.
   I reckon as old Sol couldn't ha' lived without a pack of broads. If he couldn't find anybody to play with him, he'd play alone, […] 1927, Arthur Morris Binstead, The works of A. M. Binstead, volume 2, page 118

Etymology 2

Early 20th century. Perhaps from broad hips or from American English abroadwife, "woman who lives or travels without her husband", often a slave. Perhaps there was influence from bride in a similar sense to use of the cognate German Braut for “girlfriend, young woman”.

noun

1. (dated) A prostitute, a woman of loose morals.
2. (US, colloquial, slang, sometimes dated) A woman or girl.
   They always hook you in the end, them broads. This whole trouble is on account of a dame reads a book. 1950, Albert Mannheimer, Born Yesterday, spoken by Harry Brock
   Hey, man, Truck, you got to understand, she's a no class broad and you a gross son of a bitch. Naturally, she don't like you. 1974, Oscar Williams, Michael Allin, Truck Turner, spoken by Jerry
   The grunts resumed their bitching at the heat, the hills, and the lack of cold beer and hot broads. 1984, Charles Robert Anderson, The Grunts, Berkley Books, page 157
   I mean, what the fuck. If a guy wants to get on with a broad on a more or less stable basis, who's to say to him no? Huh? A lot of these broads, you know, you just don't know, you know. I mean, a young woman in today's society, by the time she's 22–23, you don't know where the fuck she's been. 1986, Tim Kazurinsky, Denise DeClue, About Last Night, spoken by Bernie (Jim Belushi)