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Road
Definitions
- 1 At the venue of the opposing team or competitor; on the road. Canada, US, attributive, not-comparable
- 2 Of or pertaining to a road bike. not-comparable
"road tires"
- 1 A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane.
"In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road."
- 2 a way or means to achieve something wordnet
- 3 Roads in general as a means of travel, especially by motor vehicle. uncountable
"We travelled to the seaside by road."
- 4 an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation wordnet
- 5 A physical way or route. dated
"He stirred up his hair with his sprightliest expression, glanced at the little figure again, said ‘Good evening, ma ‘am; don’t come down, Mrs Affery, I know the road to the door,’ and steamed out."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 A path chosen, as in life or career. figuratively
"the road to happiness; the road to success."
- 7 An underground tunnel in a mine.
- 8 A railroad. US, archaic
- 9 A single railroad track (railway track). UK, US
"The new depot, on which work started in May, 1956, has three reception roads leading to 13 sidings capable of taking 25 trains, a 450 ft.-long car examination shed with nine roads, a lifting shop with two roads and three permanent way sidings."
- 10 The act of riding on horseback. obsolete
- 11 A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid. obsolete
- 12 A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor; a roadstead. plural-normally
"Antonio: Sweet lady, you have given me life and living; / For here I read for certain that my ships / Are safely come to road."
- 13 A journey, or stage of a journey. obsolete
"At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester; / Lodg'd in the abbey, where the reverend abbot, / With all his convent, honourably receiv'd him; […]"
- 14 A hard, flat pitch, typically favourable for batters.
Etymology
From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English rād (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots. Cognates include West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway). The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late — Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar — and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway (“a way for riding on”) as saying way twice, in other words as a tautological compound.
From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English rād (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots. Cognates include West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway). The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late — Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar — and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway (“a way for riding on”) as saying way twice, in other words as a tautological compound.
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