road

Definitions

1. 1.An inroad; an invasion; a raid. [Obs.] Spenser.
2. 2.A place where one may ride; an open way or public passage for vehicles, persons, and animals; a track for travel, forming a means of communication between one city, town, or place, and another. The most villainous house in all the London road. Shak. Note: The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street, and lane.
3. 3.Etym: [Possibly akin to Icel. reithi the rigging of a ship, E. ready.] A place where ships may ride at anchor at some distance from the shore; a roadstead; -- often in the plural; as, Hampton Roads. Shak. Now strike your saile, ye jolly mariners, For we be come unto a quiet rode [road]. Spenser. On, or Upon, the road, traveling or passing over a road; coming or going; on the way. My hat and wig will soon be here, They are upon the road. Cowper. -- Road agent, a highwayman, especially on the stage routes of the unsettled western parts of the United States; -- a humorous euphemism. [Western U.S.] The highway robber -- road agent he is quaintly called. The century. -- Road book, a quidebook in respect to roads and distances. -- Road metal, the broken, stone used in macadamizing roads. -- Road roller, a heavy roller, or combinations of rollers, for making earth, macadam, or concrete roads smooth and compact. -- often driven by steam. -- Road runner (Zoöl.), the chaparral cock. -- Road steamer, a locomotive engine adapted to running on common roads. -- To go on the road, to engage in the business of a commercial traveler. [Colloq.] -- To take the road, to begin or engage in traveling. -- To take to the road, to engage in robbery upon the highways. See Way.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "road" mean?
• What is another word for "road"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is road.

• What is an inroad; an invasion; a raid. [Obs.] Spenser called?