1.
[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.]
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With easy roads he came to Leicester. --Shak.
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2. An inroad; an invasion; a raid. [Obs.] --Spenser.
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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.
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The most villainous house in all the London road.
--Shak.
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Note: The word is generally applied to highways, and as a
generic term it includes highway, street, and lane.
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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.
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Now strike your saile, ye jolly mariners,
For we be come unto a quiet rode [road]. --Spenser.
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On the road, or Uponthe road, traveling or passing over a
road; coming or going; traveling; on the way.
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My hat and wig will soon be here,
They are upon the road. --Cowper.
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Road agent, a highwayman, especially on the stage routes of
the unsettled western parts of the United States; -- a
humorous euphemism. [Western U.S.]
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The highway robber -- road agent he is quaintly
called. --The century.
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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.
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Syn: Way; highway; street; lane; pathway; route; passage;
course. See Way.
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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.
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2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a
package of goods.
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3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or
communicate.
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Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak.
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4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
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Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.
--Milton
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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.
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Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
--Shak.
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6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as,
to break a set.
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7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to
pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British
squares.
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8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
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The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments
with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.
--Prescott.
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9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller
denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
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10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as,
to break flax.
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11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
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An old man, broken with the storms of state.
--Shak.
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12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a
fall or blow.
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I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.
--Dryden.
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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.
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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.
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Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?
--Shak.
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15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to
ruin.
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With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
--Dryden.
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16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to
cashier; to dismiss.
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I see a great officer broken. --Swift.
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Note: With prepositions or adverbs:
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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.]
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Note: With an immediate object:
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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.
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Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate;
infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.
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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