Road (?), n. [AS. rad a riding, that on which one rides or travels, a road, fr. ridan 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.
⇒ 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.
Now strike your saile, ye jolly mariners,
For we be come unto a quiet rode [road].
Spenser.
On, ∨ 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. [Western U.S.]
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. -- 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 1913.