Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Road
Road
(rō)
, Noun.
1.
A journey, or stage of a journey.
[Obs.]
With easy
roads
he came to Leicester. Shakespeare
2.
An inroad; an invasion; a raid.
[Obs.]
Spenser.
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.
The most villainous house in all the London
road
. Shakespeare
☞ The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street, and lane.
4.
[Possibly akin to Icel.
reiði
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
For we be come unto a quiet
rode
[road]. Spenser.
On the road
, or Uponthe road
traveling or passing over a road; coming or going; traveling; on the way.
My hat and wig will soon be here,
They are
– 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 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.
Syn. – Way; highway; street; lane; pathway; route; passage; course. See
Way
. Webster 1828 Edition
Road
ROAD
,Noun.
1.
An open way or public passage; ground appropriated for travel, forming a communication between one city, town or place and another. The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street and lane. The military roads of the Romans were paved with stone, or formed of gravel or pebbles, and some of them remain to this day entire.2.
A place where ships may ride at anchor at some distance from the shore; sometimes called roadstead, that is, a place for riding, meaning at anchor.3.
A journey. [Not used, but we still use ride as a noun; as a long ride; a short ride; the same word differently written.]4.
An inroad; incursion of an enemy. [Not in use.]On the road, passing; traveling.