Path
Pronunciation
- US IPA: /pæθ/
- UK IPA: /pÉ‘Ëθ/, /pæθ/
- Rhymes: -É‘Ëθ, -æθ
Origin
From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ ("path, track"), from Proto-Germanic *paþaz ("path") (compare West Frisian paad, Dutch pad, German Pfad), from Scythian (compare Avestan (panta), gen. (paθa, "way"), Old Persian ), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (compare English find). More at find.
Full definition of path
Noun
path
(plural paths)- A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
- John DrydenThe dewy paths of meadows we will tread.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
- A course taken.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars (book), Chapter I,Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.
- the path of a meteor, of a caravan, or of a storm
- (paganism) A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
- A metaphorical course.
- A method or direction of proceeding.
- Bible, Psalms xxv. 10All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.
- GrayThe paths of glory lead but to the grave.
- (computing) A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL
- (graph theory) A sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
- (topology) A continuous map from the unit interval
Derived terms
Verb
- (transitive) To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
- Draytonpathing young Henry's unadvised ways