road

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• Roads in general as a means of travel, especially by motor vehicle.
• A way or route.
• A path chosen in life or career.
• An underground tunnel in a mine.
• A railway or a single railway track.
• The act of riding on horseback.
• A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid.
• A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor; a roadstead.
• A journey, or stage of a journey.

Adjective

• At the venue of the opposing team or competitor; on the road.

Related

Similar words

• away

Origin

• From Middle English rode, rade, 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"). raid, acquired from Scots, and 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 reinterpetation of roadway as a tautological compound.