a sheet of paper printed on one or both sides, as for distribution or posting.
any printed advertising circular.
any broad surface or side, as of a house.
Also called broadside ballad. a song, chiefly in 16th- and 17th-century England, written on a topical subject, printed on broadsides, and sung in public, as on a street corner, by a professional balladeer.
adverb
with the side, especially with the broader side, facing toward a given point or object: The truck hit the fence broadside.
in a wide-ranging manner; at random: to attack the president's policies broadside.
verb (used without object),broad·sid·ed,broad·sid·ing.
to proceed or go broadside.
to fire a broadside or broadsides.
verb (used with object),broad·sid·ed,broad·sid·ing.
to collide with or run into the side of (a vehicle, object, person, etc.): We got broadsided on the freeway.
to make concerted verbal attacks on: The president was broadsided by the opposition.
1590s, "side of a ship" (technically, "the side of a ship above the water, between the bow and the quarter"), from broad (adj.) + side (n.); thus "the artillery on one side of a ship all fired off at once" (1590s, with figurative extensions). Two words until late 18c. Of things other than ships, 1630s. But oldest-recorded sense in English is "sheet of paper printed only on one side" (1570s).
