road

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]

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]

The Devil's Dictionary

All roads, howsoe'er they diverge, lead to Rome, Whence, thank the good Lord, at least one leads back home. Borey the Bald