Way , v. i. To move; to progress; to go. [R.]
On a time as they together wayed.
Spenser.
Way (?), v. t. To go or travel
to; to go in, as a way or path. [Obs.]
"In land not wayed." Wyclif.
Way , n. [OE. wey, way, AS. weg; akin to OS., D., OHG., &
G. weg, Icel. vegr, Sw. väg, Dan.
vei, Goth. wigs, L.
via, and AS. wegan to move, L. vehere to carry, Skr. vah.
√136. Cf. Convex, Inveigh, Vehicle,
Vex, Via, Voyage, Wag, Wagon, Wee, Weigh.]
1. That by, upon,
or along, which one passes or processes; opportunity or room to pass; place of passing; passage; road, street, track, or path of any kind; as,
they built a way to the mine. "To find the
way to heaven." Shak.
I shall him seek by way and eke
by street.
Chaucer. The way seems difficult, and steep to
scale.
Milton.
The season and ways were very improper for his majesty's
forces to march so great a distance.
Evelyn.
2. Length of space; distance; interval; as, a great
way; a long way.
And whenever
the way seemed long,
Or his heart began to fail.
Longfellow. 3. A moving; passage; procession; journey.
I prythee, now, lead the
way.
Shak.
4. Course or direction of motion or
process; tendency of action; advance.
If that way be your
walk, you have not far.
Milton. And let eternal justice take the way.
Dryden.
5. The means by which anything is reached, or anything is accomplished; scheme; device; plan.
My best way is to creep under his gaberdine.
Shak.
By noble ways we conquest will prepare.
Dryden.
What impious
ways my wishes took!
Prior. 6. Manner; method; mode; fashion; style; as, the
way of expressing one's ideas.
7. Regular course; habitual method of life or action; plan of conduct; mode of dealing. "Having lost the way of nobleness." Sir. P. Sidney.
Her
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
Prov.
iii. 17. When men lived in
a grander way.
Longfellow. 8. Sphere or scope of observation. Jer. Taylor.
The public
ministers that fell in my way.
Sir W. Temple.
9. Determined course; resolved mode of action or conduct; as, to have one's way.
10. (Naut.) (a) Progress; as, a ship has way. (b) pl. The
timbers on which a ship is
launched.
11. pl. (Mach.)
The longitudinal
guides, or guiding surfaces, on the bed of a planer, lathe, or the
like, along which a table
or carriage moves.
12. (Law) Right of way.
See below.
By the way,
in passing; apropos; aside; apart from, though connected with, the main object or subject of discourse. -- By way of, for the purpose of; as being; in character of. -- Covert way. (Fort.) See Covered way, under Covered. --
In the family way. See under Family. -- In the way, so as to meet, fall in
with, obstruct, hinder, etc. -- In the way with, traveling or going with; meeting or being with; in the presence of. -- Milky way. (Astron.)
See Galaxy, 1.
-- No way, No ways. See Noway, Noways,
in the Vocabulary. -- On the way, traveling or going; hence, in process; advancing toward completion; as, on the way
to this country; on the way to
success. -- Out of the way.
See under Out. -- Right of way (Law), a right of private passage over another's ground. It may arise either by grant or prescription. It may be attached to a house, entry, gate, well, or city
lot, as well
as to a country farm. Kent.
-- To be under way, or To have way (Naut.), to be in motion,
as when a ship begins to move. -- To give way. See under Give. -- To go one's way, or To
come one's way, to go or come; to depart or
come along. Shak.
-- To go the way of all the earth, to die. -- To make one's way, to advance in life by one's personal efforts. -- To make way. See under Make, v. t. -- Ways and means. (a) Methods; resources; facilities.
(b) (Legislation) Means for raising money; resources for revenue. -- Way leave, permission
to cross, or
a right of way across, land; also, rent paid for
such right. [Eng] --
Way of the
cross (Eccl.), the course taken in visiting in rotation the stations of the cross.
See Station,
n., 7 (c). -- Way of the rounds (Fort.), a space left for the passage of the rounds between a rampart and
the wall of
a fortified town. -- Way pane, a pane for cartage in irrigated land. See Pane, n.,
4. [Prov. Eng.] -- Way passenger, a passenger taken up, or set down, at some
intermediate place between the principal stations on a line of travel. -- Ways of God, his providential government, or his works. -- Way station, an intermediate station between principal stations
on a line of travel, especially on a railroad. -- Way train, a train which
stops at the intermediate, or way, stations; an accommodation train. -- Way warden, the surveyor of a
road.
Syn. --
Street; highway; road. -- Way, Street, Highway,
Road. Way is generic, denoting any line for
passage or conveyance; a highway is literally one raised for the sake of dryness and convenience in traveling; a road is,
strictly, a way for horses and carriages; a street is, etymologically, a paved way, as early made
in towns and cities; and, hence, the word is distinctively applied to
roads or highways in compact settlements.
All keep the
broad highway, and take delight
With many rather for to go astray.
Spenser.
There is but one road by which to climb up.
Addison. When night
Darkens the
streets, then wander
forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
Milton.
Way (?), adv. [Aphetic form of away.]
Away. [Obs. or Archaic] Chaucer.
To do way,
to take away; to remove. [Obs.] "Do way your hands."
Chaucer. -- To make way with, to make away
with. See under Away. [Archaic]
Hear it pronounced