Search Result for "road": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation;
[syn: road, route]

2. a way or means to achieve something;
- Example: "the road to fame"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Road \Road\ (r[=o]), n. [AS. r[=a]d a riding, that on which one rides or travels, a road, fr. r[imac]dan to ride. See Ride, and cf. Raid.] 1. A journey, or stage of a journey. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] With easy roads he came to Leicester. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. An inroad; an invasion; a raid. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster] 3. 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. [1913 Webster] The most villainous house in all the London road. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Note: The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street, and lane. [1913 Webster] 4. [Possibly akin to Icel. rei[eth]i 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. [1913 Webster] Now strike your saile, ye jolly mariners, For we be come unto a quiet rode [road]. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] On the road, or Uponthe road, traveling or passing over a road; coming or going; traveling; on the way. [1913 Webster] My hat and wig will soon be here, They are upon the road. --Cowper. [1913 Webster] Road agent, a highwayman, especially on the stage routes of the unsettled western parts of the United States; -- a humorous euphemism. [Western U.S.] [1913 Webster] The highway robber -- road agent he is quaintly called. --The century. [1913 Webster] Road book, a guidebook in respect to roads and distances. road kill See roadkill in the vocabulary. 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 (Zool.), 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. [1913 Webster] Syn: Way; highway; street; lane; pathway; route; passage; course. See Way. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. t. [imp. broke (br[=o]k), (Obs. Brake); p. p. Broken (br[=o]"k'n), (Obs. Broke); p. pr. & vb. n. Breaking.] [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS. brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to creak, Sw. braka, br[aum]kka to crack, Dan. br[ae]kke to break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to pound, Breach, Fragile.] 1. To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods. [1913 Webster] 3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate. [1913 Webster] Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise. [1913 Webster] Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . . To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray. --Milton [1913 Webster] 5. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey. [1913 Webster] Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set. [1913 Webster] 7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares. [1913 Webster] 8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments. [1913 Webster] The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. --Prescott. [1913 Webster] 9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill. [1913 Webster] 10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax. [1913 Webster] 11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind. [1913 Webster] An old man, broken with the storms of state. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. [1913 Webster] I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 13. To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend. [1913 Webster] 14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle. "To break a colt." --Spenser. [1913 Webster] Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute? --Shak. [1913 Webster] 15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin. [1913 Webster] With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. [1913 Webster] I see a great officer broken. --Swift. [1913 Webster] Note: With prepositions or adverbs: [1913 Webster] To break down. (a) To crush; to overwhelm; as, to break down one's strength; to break down opposition. (b) To remove, or open a way through, by breaking; as, to break down a door or wall. To break in. (a) To force in; as, to break in a door. (b) To train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in. To break of, to rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break one of a habit. To break off. (a) To separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig. (b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break off thy sins by righteousness." --Dan. iv. 27. To break open, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I will break it open." --Shak. To break out, to take or force out by breaking; as, to break out a pane of glass. To break out a cargo, to unstow a cargo, so as to unload it easily. To break through. (a) To make an opening through, as, as by violence or the force of gravity; to pass violently through; as, to break through the enemy's lines; to break through the ice. (b) To disregard; as, to break through the ceremony. To break up. (a) To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow ground). "Break up this capon." --Shak. "Break up your fallow ground." --Jer. iv. 3. (b) To dissolve; to put an end to. "Break up the court." --Shak. To break (one) all up, to unsettle or disconcert completely; to upset. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster] Note: With an immediate object: [1913 Webster] To break the back. (a) To dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally. (b) To get through the worst part of; as, to break the back of a difficult undertaking. To break bulk, to destroy the entirety of a load by removing a portion of it; to begin to unload; also, to transfer in detail, as from boats to cars. To break a code to discover a method to convert coded messages into the original understandable text. To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting concealment, as game when hunted. To break a deer or To break a stag, to cut it up and apportion the parts among those entitled to a share. To break fast, to partake of food after abstinence. See Breakfast. To break ground. (a) To open the earth as for planting; to commence excavation, as for building, siege operations, and the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a canal, or a railroad. (b) Fig.: To begin to execute any plan. (c) (Naut.) To release the anchor from the bottom. To break the heart, to crush or overwhelm (one) with grief. To break a house (Law), to remove or set aside with violence and a felonious intent any part of a house or of the fastenings provided to secure it. To break the ice, to get through first difficulties; to overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a subject. To break jail, to escape from confinement in jail, usually by forcible means. To break a jest, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the livelong day breaks scurril jests." --Shak. To break joints, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc., so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with those in the preceding course. To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest. To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck. To break no squares, to create no trouble. [Obs.] To break a path, road, etc., to open a way through obstacles by force or labor. To break upon a wheel, to execute or torture, as a criminal by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his limbs with an iron bar; -- a mode of punishment formerly employed in some countries. To break wind, to give vent to wind from the anus. [1913 Webster] Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

road n 1: an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation [syn: road, route] 2: a way or means to achieve something; "the road to fame"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

177 Moby Thesaurus words for "road": Autobahn, US highway, access, air lane, alley, alleyway, anchorage, anchorage ground, approach, approaches, arm, armlet, arterial, arterial highway, arterial street, artery, autoroute, autostrada, avenue, basin, bay, bayou, beat, belt, belt highway, berth, bight, blind alley, boca, boulevard, breakwater, bulkhead, bypass, byway, camino real, carriageway, causeway, causey, channel, chaussee, chuck, circuit, circumferential, close, corduroy road, county road, course, court, cove, creek, crescent, cul-de-sac, dead-end street, dike, direction, dirt road, dock, dockage, dockyard, drag, drive, driveway, dry dock, embankment, entree, estuary, euripus, expressway, fairway, fjord, flight path, freeway, frith, gravel road, groin, gulf, gut, harbor, harborage, haven, highroad, highway, highways and byways, inlet, interstate highway, itinerary, jetty, jutty, kyle, landing, landing place, landing stage, lane, line, local road, loch, main drag, main road, marina, means, method, mews, mole, moorings, motorway, mouth, narrow, narrow seas, narrows, natural harbor, orbit, parkway, passage, path, pave, paved road, pier, pike, place, plank road, port, primary highway, primrose path, private road, procedure, protected anchorage, quay, reach, riding, right-of-way, ring road, roadbed, roads, roadstead, roadway, round, route, route nationale, row, royal road, run, sea lane, seaport, seawall, seaway, secondary road, ship route, shipyard, shortcut, slip, sound, speedway, state highway, steamer track, strait, straits, street, superhighway, technique, terrace, thoroughfare, through street, thruway, toll road, tour, township road, track, trade route, traject, trajectory, trajet, turnpike, walk, waterway, way, wharf, wynd
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Road (1 Sam. 27:10; R.V., "raid"), an inroad, an incursion. This word is never used in Scripture in the sense of a way or path.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ROAD. A passage through the country for the use of the people. 3 Yeates, 421. 2. Roads are public or private. Public roads are laid out by public authority, or dedicated by individuals to public use. The public have the use of such roads, but the owner of the land over which they are made and the owners of land bounded on the highway, have, prima facie, a fee in such highway, ad medium filum vice, subject to the easement in favor of the public. 1 Conn. 193; 11 Conn. 60; 2 John. 357 15 John. 447. But where the boundary excludes the highway, it is, of course, excluded. 11 Pick. 193. See 13 Mass. 259. The proprietor of the soil, is therefore entitled to all the fruits which grow by its side; 16 Mass. 366, 7; and to all the mineral wealth it contains. 1 Rolle, 392, 1. 5; 4 Day, R. 328; 1 Conn'. Rep, 103; 6 Mass. R. 454; 4 Mass, R. 427; 15 Johns. Rep. 447, 583; 2 Johns. R. 357; Com. Dig. Chimin, A 2; 6 Pet. 498; 1 Sumn. 21; 10 Pet. 25; 6 Pick. 57; 6 Mass. 454; 12 Wend. 98. 3. There are public roads, such as turnpikes and railroads, which are constructed by public authority, or by corporations. These are kept in good order by the respective companies to which they belong, and persons travelling on them, with animals and vehicles, are required to pay toll. In general these companies have only a right of passage over the land, which remains the property, subject to the easement, of the owner at the time the road was made or of his heirs or assigns. 4. Private roads are, such as are used for private individuals only, and are not wanted for the public generally. Sometimes roads of this kind are wanted for the accommodation of land otherwise enclosed and without access to public roads. The soil of such roads belongs to the owner of the land over which they are made. 5. Public roads are kept in repair at the public expense, and private roads by those who use them. Vide Domain; Way. 13 Mass. 256; 1 Sumn. Rep. 21; 2 Hill. Ab. c. 7; 1 Pick. R. 122; 2 Mass. R. 127 6 Mass. R. 454; 4 Mass. R. 427; 15 Mass. Rep. 33; 3 Rawle, R. 495; 1 N. H. Rep. 16; 1 McCord, R. 67; 1 Conn. R. 103; 2 John. R. 357; 1 John. Rep. 447; 15 John. R. 483; 4 Day, Rep. 330; 2 Bailey, Rep. 271; 1 Burr. 133; 7 B. & Cr. 304; 11 Price R. 736; 7 Taunt. R. 39; Str. 1004. 1 Shepl. R. 250; 5 Conn. Rep. 528; 8 Pick. R. 473; Crabb, R. P. Sec. 102-104.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

ROAD, mar. law. A road is defined by Lord Hale to be an open passage of the sea, which, from the situation of the adjacent land, and its own depth and wideness, affords a secure place for the common riding and anchoring of vessels. Hale de Port. Mar. p. 2, c. 2. This word, however, does not appear to have a very definite meaning. 2 Chit. Com. Law, 4, 5.
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

ROAD, n. A strip of land along which one may pass from where it is too tiresome to be to where it is futile to go. All roads, howsoe'er they diverge, lead to Rome, Whence, thank the good Lord, at least one leads back home. Borey the Bald