[f. BROAD adv. + CAST pa. pple.] A. adj.
1. Of seed, etc.: Scattered abroad over the whole surface, instead of being sown in drills or rows. b. Of sowing: Performed by this method.
1767. A. Young, Farmer’s Lett. People, 115. The sowing is either in the broad-cast mode, or by drilling.
1831. Sir J. Sinclair, Corr., II. 424. No broad-cast sowing can equal it.
1842. Lance, Cott. Farmer, 19. On broad-cast turnips, thirty bushels of lime per acre, was the quantity used.
2. fig. a. Scattered widely abroad, widely disseminated. b. Wide, as if scattering seed broadcast.
1785. Burke, Sp. Nab. Arcot’s Debts, Wks. IV. 205. With a broad-cast swing of his arm, he squanders over his Indian field a sum [etc.].
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 135. Broadcast accusations.
B. adv. Only in phr. To sow, scatter, throw, etc., broadcast. a. in Agric.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 38. Scattering the seed … over the whole surface … is … called sowing broad-cast.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., I. 83. Seed sown either broadcast or in drills.
b. fig.
1814. Sir R. Wilson, Diary, II. 391. I have … thrown broadcast a fruitful grain, and converted the soil of my banishment into a field that ought to be rich in future produce.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vi. § 6 (1882), 334. A host of spies were scattered broadcast over the land.
C. sb. Broadcast sowing, or mode.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xv. (1813), 60. At broad-cast, trample the seed in with the feet.
1797. Holcroft, Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2), III. lxxx. 224. The corn has not been sown with broad-cast.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. iii. 50. The rate of seed to the acre … where broadcast is adopted.
