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road

1. A journey, or stage of a journey. With easy roads he came to Leicester. (Shak)

2. An inroad; an invasion; a raid.

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. (Shak)

The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street, and lane.

4. [Possibly akin to Icel. Reioi 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. 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. 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.

(Science: zoology) Road runner, 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. To take the road, to begin or engage in traveling. To take to the road, to engage in robbery upon the highways.

Synonym: way, highway, street, lane, pathway, route, passage, course. See Way.

Origin: AS. Rad a riding, that on which one rides or travels, a road, fr. Ridan to ride. See Ride, and cf. Raid.