broad in the beam

Idioms  

1. Having broad hips or large buttocks. For example, I've grown too broad in the beam for these slacks. This expression originated in the 17th century and described the wideness of a ship. It began to be used for the human body only in the 1920s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

broad in the beam

She is a sixteen-footer and quite fast, in spite of being rather broad in the beam.

From Us and the Bottleman by Price, Edith Ballinger

The Perhaps was a full-rigged ship, with auxiliary steam, broad in the beam, with strong, rounded bows.

From The Turnstile by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)

“See that feller holdin’ up the corner of the depot with his back! the one that’s so broad in the beam he has to draw in his breath afore he can button his coat.

From Cap'n Warren's Wards by Lincoln, Joseph Crosby

I have a feeling for those ships,   Each worn and ancient one, With great bluff bows, and broad in the beam;   Ay, it was unkindly done.

From Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Melville, Herman

“Why, Teddy was a slim boy of fourteen, and this laddie here’s a fine strapping fellow, nearly six feet high, and as broad in the beam as a Dutch sloop!”

From On Board the Esmeralda Martin Leigh's Log - A Sea Story by Overend, William Heysham