wide
Etymology
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Etymology
From Middle English wid, wyd, from Old English wīd, from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁-, a dissimilated univerbation from *dwi- + *dʰeh₁-.
Cognate with Scots wyd, wid ("of great extent; vast"), Western Frisian wiid, Dutch wijd, German weit, Danish vid, Swedish vid, Icelandic víður, Latin dīvidō, Latin vītō. Related to widow.
Pronunciation Adjectivewide (comparative wider, superlative widest)
- Having a large physical extent from side to side.
- We walked down a wide corridor.
- Large in scope.
- The inquiry had a wide remit.
- (sports) Operating at the side of the playing area.
- That team needs a decent wide player.
- On one side or the other of the mark; too far sideways from the mark, the wicket, the batsman, etc.
- Too bad! That was a great passing-shot, but it's wide.
- 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC ↗:
- Surely he shoots wide on the Bow-Hand.
- 1656, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Philip Massinger, The Old Law:
- I was but two bows wide.
- (phonetics, dated) Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the organs in the mouth.
- (Scotland, Northern England, now rare) Vast, great in extent, extensive.
- The wide, lifeless expanse.
- (obsolete) Located some distance away; distant, far. [15th–19th c.]
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXXXI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC ↗:
- Mr Hunt's house, you know, lies wide from Harlowe-place.
- 1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […], →OCLC ↗:
- the contrary [being] so wide from the truth of Scripture and the attributes of God
- (obsolete) Far from truth, propriety, necessity, etc.
- 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC ↗, book:
- And I trust anon by the help of an infallible guide, to perfect such Prutenic tables, as shall mend the astronomy of our wide expositors.
- 1549 April 22 (Gregorian calendar), Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[27 Sermons Preached by the Ryght Reuerende Father in God and Constant Matir of Iesus Christe, Maister Hugh Latimer, […].] The Syxte Sermon of Maister Hugh Latymer, whiche He Preached before K. Edward [VI], the XII. Day of Aprill.”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC ↗, folio 75, verso ↗:
- But I tell you, it is farre wyde, that the people haue ſuche iudgmentes, the Byſhoppes they coulde laughe at it.
- [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC ↗:
- How wide is all this long pretence!
- (computing) Of or supporting a greater range of text characters than can fit into the traditional 8-bit representation.
- a wide character; a wide stream
- (Great Britain, slang, only in "wide boy") Sharp-witted.
- narrow (regarding empty area)
- thin (regarding occupied area)
- skinny (sometimes offensive, regarding body width)
- French: large
- German: breit, weit
- Italian: largo, ampio
- Portuguese: largo, amplo
- Russian: широ́кий
- Spanish: ancho, amplio
wide (comparative wider, superlative widest)
- extensively
- He travelled far and wide.
- completely
- He was wide awake.
- away from or to one side of a given goal
- The arrow fell wide of the mark.
- A few shots were fired but they all went wide.
- So as to leave or have a great space between the sides; so as to form a large opening.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC ↗, line 359:
- And with his knee the dore he opens wide
- Italian: largo
wide (plural wides)
- (cricket) A ball that passes so far from the batsman that the umpire deems it unplayable; the arm signal used by an umpire to signal a wide; the extra run added to the batting side's score
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.065
