Road
Origin
From Old English rÄd ("riding, hostile incursion"), from Proto-Germanic *raidÅ ("a ride, road"), from Proto-Indo-European *reidh- ("to ride"). Cognate to West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway).
Full definition of road
Noun
road
(plural roads)- (obsolete) The act of riding on horseback. 9th-17th c.
- (obsolete) A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid. 9th-19th c.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.8:There dwelt a salvage nation, which did live
Of stealth and spoile, and making nightly rode
Into their neighbours borders …. - (nautical, often in the plural) A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor. from 14th c.
- 1630, John Smith, True Travels, in Kupperman 1988, p. 38:There delivering their fraught, they went to Scandaroone; rather to view what ships was in the Roade, than any thing else ....
- A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. from 16th c.
- In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
- 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.
- (figuratively) A path chosen in life or career. from 17th c.
- Ronald Reagan: A Time for Choosing (1964).Where, then, is the road to peace?
- 2012, September 7, Phil McNulty, Hodgson may actually feel England could have scored even more but this was the perfect first step on the road to Rio in 2014 and the ideal platform for the second qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday.
- An underground tunnel in a mine. from 18th c.
- US A railway; British a single railway track. from 19th c.
- (obsolete) A journey, or stage of a journey.
- ShakespeareWith easy roads he came to Leicester.
Usage notes
Often used interchangeably with street or other similar words. When usage is distinguished, a road is a route between settlements (reflecting the etymological relation with ride), as in the Great North Road (Great Britain) from London to Edinburgh, while a street is a route within a settlement (city or town), strictly speaking paved.