by and large

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Mostly

   Mostly; generally; all things considered.

   • It was, by and large, an unexceptional presentation.
   • Taking things by and large, as sailors say, I got on fairly well in the matter of provisions even on the long voyage across the Pacific.
   • “The people doing this by and large don’t have any real concept of how to tell a story, and neither do any kind of A.I.,” Ms. Williams said on Wednesday.
2. 2

   In one way or another.

   • Miss Betsey, a charming frigate, that will do honour to our country, if you take her by and large.
   • […] a man who has heard of the biter bit, feels rather perplexed on the whole, take it by-and-large […]
3. 3

   Sailing alternately into the wind and in the same direction as the wind.

   • […] For to make a Ship to drawe or goe but little into the water, and to hold a good winde, and to ſaile well both by and large, were very neceſſarie, and eſpecially in theſe our ſhallowe Seas, […]

The neighborhood