Road - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Road :  adj
1: taking place over public roads; "road racing" [syn: road(a)] [ant: cross-country]
2: working for a short time in different places; "itinerant laborers"; "a road show"; "traveling salesman"; "touring company" [syn: itinerant, touring, traveling] (noun)
1: an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation [syn: route]
2: a way or means to achieve something; "the road to fame"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Road : \Road\, n. [AS. r[=a]d a riding, that on which one rides or travels, a road, fr. r[=i]dan to ride. See Ride, and cf. Raid.] 1. A journey, or stage of a journey. [Obs.]

With easy roads he came to Leicester. --Shak.

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. --Shak.

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

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.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Break \Break\, v. t. [imp. broke, (Obs. Brake); p. p. Broken, (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["a]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.

2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.

3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.

Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak.

4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.

Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . . To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray. --Milton

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.

Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. --Shak.

6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.

7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.

8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.

The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. --Prescott.

9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.

10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.

11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.

An old man, broken with the storms of state. --Shak.

12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow.

I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. --Dryden.

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.

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.

Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute? --Shak.

15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.

With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks. --Dryden.

16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.

I see a great officer broken. --Swift.

Note: With prepositions or adverbs:

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.]

Note: With an immediate object:

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 cover, to burst forth from a protecting concealment, as game when hunted.

To break a deer or 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.

Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

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.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

ROAD, mar. law. ARoad : 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.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_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.



Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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