broadside Hear it!

broadside Definition

broad·side (-sīd′)

noun

  1. the entire side of a ship above the waterline
  2. the simultaneous firing of all the guns on one side of a warship
  3. a vigorous or abusive attack in words, esp. in a newspaper
  4. the broad surface of any large object
    1. a large sheet of paper printed on one side, as with a political message
    2. in 17th-cent. England, a popular ballad printed on such a sheet (also broadside ballad)
    3. a large sheet of paper printed on both sides, as with advertising, and often folded

adverb

  1. with the side turned (to something) a boat drifting helplessly, broadside to the waves
  2. directly in the side the train rammed the car broadside
  3. indiscriminately to level charges broadside

transitive verb -·sid′ed, -·sid′·ing

to hit or attack broadside or with a broadside

broadside Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • fire: Guns being fired, tanks advance firing, battleships firing a broadside, gas hissing out of cylinders.
  • launch: Sir Eric Parker launches broadside at courses 'The Go Racing deal is not in the best interest of racing overall.
  • deliver: Writing in a white heat of commitment, Nicolson delivers a double broadside.
  • hit: He carried on across the road, hit the bike broadside, sending it sliding diagonally across toward us.
  • turn: I was fighting to keep Rosy going straight, as I didn't fancy being turned broadside on to our direction of travel.
  • print: The artifact is a single-sheet broadside printed by the Allahabad missionaries for the Benares missionaries.

Adjective modifier

  • full: Blast the pirates with a full broadside from your cannons to earn extra points, or lure them onto the reefs to destroy them.
  • Irish: Of more modern versions, O'Lochlainn does have a text - in line with Irish broadsides.
  • whole: Three months later Engels fires off a whole broadside against the SDP right wing in the form of his Critique of the Erfurt program.
  • first: Both sides claimed that the other fired the first broadside.
  • few: Normally, a ship of the line would have been able to sink a frigate with a very few broadsides.
  • criminal: Up until June 2001 we have found three ballads and three criminal broadsides which are dedicated to William Palmer.

Modifies a noun

  • ballad: Contents: Harding B includes over 15,000 broadside ballads.
  • printing: Quite clearly, poaching ballads occupy a niche of their own in broadside printing terms.
  • printer: On the other hand, broadside ballad printers do not seem to have been noted for their observation of social niceties.
  • view: A broadside view of The Paddy arriving at Southwell Central in dramatic low evening light.
  • text: In the workhouse, he was among both English and Irish inmates and he could, anyway, have come across broadside text.
  • gun: The navy used them as broadside guns, the army as harbor defense.

Noun used with modifier

  • ballad: An index of names holds entries for all authors and performers named on the ballad broadsides.
  • century: No.20 - The Turtle Dove ( Roud 422 ) - this popular lament is shown to have evolved from seventeenth century broadside ballads.