highwayn.
/ˈhʌɪweɪ/, U.S. /ˈhaɪˌweɪ/ 1.
a. British. the King's (also Queen's) highway: the public road network, regarded as being under royal protection; (esp. in early use) a specific road regarded as belonging to that network.In Old English without the.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > highway or public road > king's highway
the king's highwayeOE
eOE (Kentish) Agreement between Æðelmod & Plegred (Sawyer 1196) in N. P. Brooks & S. E. Kelly Charters of Christ Church Canterbury, Pt. 2 (2013) 747 Ab oriente cyniges heiweg. A meritie stret to Scufelingforde.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 95 Forstallynge, wrong oþer let i-doo in þe kynges hiȝe weie [L. strata regia].
a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 141 (MED) Richard Ticedwell..grauntid..iiij acris of arable londe towarde þe kinges hall, þe whiche turnin to þe kinges hi wei.
?1564 Proclam. Elizabeth I Conserv. Quenes Swannes (single sheet) It is ordeyned, that euery swanherde intending to kepe any swannes or signettes, that they shal kepe them in a pen..within .xx. foote of the Quenes hygh way.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II iii. iii. 155 Ile be buried in the Kings hie way, Some way of common trade, where subiects feete May hourely trample on their soueraignes head.
1638 W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. iv. §67. 228 Shall it bee a fault to straiten and encumber the Kings high way with publique nuisances?
1651 tr. J. Kitchin Jurisdictions 104 It is ordained that W. J. shall remove his Dunghill lying by the Queens high way against his House, before the feast of Easter next, upon the paine of forfeiture ten shillings.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 157 This is not the King's Highway, 't is a Way upon Sufferance.
1791 J. Ritson Jurisdict. Court-leet 31 A certain gutter..by which nasty or stinking water is conducted into the queens highway, to the great nuisance of the queens highway.
1860 F. B. Head Horse & his Rider 143 These hounds..are on that portion of the Queen's highway which connects Northampton with Market Horborough.
1895 F. Pollock & F. W. Maitland Hist. Eng. Law I. 22 The two phrases [‘the king's peace’ and ‘the king's highway’]..come from the time when the king's protection was not universal but particular, when the king's peace was not for all men or all places, and the king's highway was in a special manner protected by it.
1917 Times 6 Feb. 3 Unless the public nuisance is established, no private individual can succeed in getting relief..in a case where the injury complained of..[results] from the use of the King's highway.
1992 Independent 28 Sept. 2/4 These paths are part of the Queen's highway and those who obstruct them are breaking the law.
b. gen. A public road; esp. the principal road forming the direct or usual route between one town or city and another, distinguished from a local road or byway. Cf. high road n. 2.The usual term in the United States and many other English-speaking places for any public road outside a town or city; in Britain now used mostly in formal or official contexts (as Highways Agency, Highway Code, etc.), the more common terms being simply road, or, for principal routes, main road, major road, or (where relevant) motorway.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > highway or public road
headwayOE
high streetOE
wayOE
port highwayOE
port-streetOE
port-wayOE
highway1257
high gate1324
thoroughfare1540
open road1656
rum pad1665
country road1669
toby lay1807
high toby spice1811
throughgang1856
1257 in H. E. Salter Cartulary Oseney Abbey (1934) IV. 210 (MED) Usque ad quandam altam viam que vulgariter vocatur ‘the Heywey’.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1885 He went to an heiȝ weie to whayte sum happes.
1377 in Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries (1913) 13 274 (MED) The high wey lying betwene Chetnolle and Lye.
a1450 (?c1400) Three Kings Cologne (Royal) (1886) 55 There was also bisyde þis hille a hiȝe-weye, and to þis hiȝe-weye were .iij. weyes metyng to-gydir.
1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) ii. 140 There ys a dyfference bytwypte [read bytwyxte] an hyghe waye, and a bypathe, for the hyghe waye ys large and commune to all.
1547 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 65 Ye mendynge and reparacionynge off the hye ways.
1622 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1849) (modernized text) II. 327 One [proclamation] against four-wheeled carts or waggons, that with their weight mar and tear the highways.
1662 in J. Barmby Churchwardens' Accts. Pittington (1888) 109 Chosen Overseers for the hy wayes for this present yeare.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 217 A Highway..near as long and as broad as the Mail [i.e. the Mall] in St. James's Park.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 452 The state [sc. Connecticut] is chequered with innumerable roads or high ways crossing each other in every direction.
1813 Examiner 26 Apr. 260/1 The poor creature's body was barbarously mangled by a stake, and buried in the highway.
1881 Laws State N.Y. I. clxxxiv. 258 The common council shall determine to regulate, re-regulate, grade, re-grade or pave any street or highway.
1937 J. Steinbeck Of Mice & Men i. 8 Tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.
1972 D. Anthony Blood on Harvest Moon ii. 18 Across the highway was a roadhouse where, according to the sign, you could dine, dance, and drink.
2010 South Afr. 6 Apr. 15/4 As we got on the highway, we were nearly sideswiped by a taxi.
c. The public road regarded as the realm of highwaymen or footpads; (hence, by metonymy) a career as a highwayman or footpad. Chiefly in to take (to) the highway: to become a highwayman or footpad. Also †to go upon the highway (obsolete). Now historical.
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the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > rob [verb (intransitive)] > rob on highway > become a highwayman
to take (to) the highway1672
to go upon (also on) the road1745
1672 R. Hals Let. 30 Apr. in M. M. Verney Memoirs (1899) IV. viii. 303 I have made a hard shift to hould out..in a bad kinde of life, I meane, the highway.
1694 P. A. Motteux in tr. F. Rabelais Wks. Pref. p. xxviii The destiny of those swaggering Bravoes, who, when the War is over, too often either take to the Highway, and other bad Courses.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 84 We will take the Highway like Gentlemen.
1727 A. Boyer Dictionaire Royal (rev. ed.) (at cited word) To go upon the Highway (to be a High-way man).
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. xix. 91 The Sea, the Army, perhaps the Highway, for the boys; the Common for the girls.
1817 J. Evans Excursion to Windsor 31 Embarrassment..that had induced him to so rash a step as the highway.
1873 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 25 Aug. It would be well for bank officers to be on their guard against the operations of this, the boldest band who ever took the highway in defiance of law.
a1950 A. Smedley Portraits Chinese Women in Revol. (1976) 104 The ‘bandits’, I learned, were peasants who took to the highway for a part of each year in order to earn a living.
2007 C. Linden What Rogue Desires xv. 206 ‘I ran away and didn't stop until London was far behind.’..‘And took to the highway.’
d. A place in which people are sought, esp. to be the recipients of some benefit. Usually in plural, esp. in conjunction with hedges, byways, etc.With allusion to the Bible (Matthew 22:9–10, Luke 14:23).
ΚΠ
1706 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels III. 201 He dispatches another Message to the Highways and Hedges, to fetch in all the Outlyers.
1739 J. Wesley Jrnl. 31 July in Wks. (1990) XIX. 83 I do indeed go out into the highways and hedges to call poor sinners to Christ.
1793 A. Fuller Calvinistic & Socinian Syst. Examined & Compared ii. 35 If a great change of character may be produced by the mere power of novelty, why do not Dr. Priestley, and those of his sentiments go forth, like some others, to the highways and hedges?
1850 H. Bonar Songs for Wilderness (ed. 3) 19 Go forth into the world's highway, Intreat compel them to come in.
1898 Daily News 6 Oct. 6/7 The South London officials of the Salvation Army have..been..gathering together of late from the highways and by-paths of Lambeth those who..are entitled to be ranked as ‘Hooligans’.
1948 A. Toynbee Civilization on Trial vi. 111 The United States..had previously not only welcomed European immigrants but..had sought them in the highways and hedges of Europe and compelled them to come in.
1993 Choir Schools Today Issue 7. 38/1 They are recruited almost from the highways and byways and are expected to attend three weekday rehearsals as well as twice on Sunday.
2. figurative. A way of life or course of conduct considered as morally correct or prescribed by God. Cf. way n.1 16.In highway of holiness, an allusion to Isaiah 35:8 ‘And an high way shalbe there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holinesse.’ (King James Bible).
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society > morality > virtue > [noun] > conduct > course of
narrow wayOE
highwaya1200
the right way (also regionally gate) (of)a1628
straight and narrow path1842
high road1950
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 131 He nolde noht turnen ut of þe hege weie ne of þe rihte paðes.
c1330 Simonie (Auch.) (1991) l. 291 Iustises..gon out of þe heie-wey [c1400 Peterhouse hy-way]. Ne leuen hii for no sklaundre, And maken þe mothalle at hom in here chaumbre.
?a1425 (a1415) Lanterne of Liȝt (Harl.) (1917) 10 A man walking in þe hiȝe weie & dreding God, is dispisid of him þat walkiþ in þe wrong weye.
1529 J. Frith Pistle Christen Reader f. xvij They shall clene lede the people out of the hygh waye of faith, in to sectes of workes with the which they shall destroy and corrupte the gospell.
1578 N. Denham in tr. N. Hemmingsen Way of Lyfe Ep. to Sadleyre sig. Av Wee which haue, for their shadowed, and false, a cleare, and perfecte religion: for their crooked, and vncertayne by path, a streyght and most assured highway.
1654 T. Watson Christian's Charter (ed. 3) xxii. 311 Avoid not duty to meet with safety: keep Gods highway, the good old way.
a1684 R. Leighton Serm. (1692) xv. 267 The way resolved on, is that of Gods Commandments,..the High-way, the Royal way, the straight way of the Kingdom.
c1750 J. Nelson Extracts Jrnl. (1767) 36 You are gone out of the high Way of Holiness, and are now got in the Devil's Pinfold.
a1783 A. Smyth Let. in Relig. Heart Delineated (1783) 81 I have reason to abhor myself, finding how often my feet are ready to..turn out of the highway of holiness.
1857 C. M. Sedgwick Married or Single? ii. 31 I might have passed by remorse to penitence, and perchance come out upon the highway of reformation.
1919 S. T. Shatford Shakespeare's Revelations 450 Take the first step on God's highway, Give your soul to Him today.
2001 J. McGarr Hastings Thumb iv. 55 ‘It's hard to know what God wants... But we have to head in the right direction and do what seems right along the way.’ I had never known Otis to stray from the highway.
3. figurative.
a. A series of events or course of action leading (inevitably) to a particular outcome or goal. Now chiefly with to. Cf. road n. 5b.In early use frequently with reference to moral conduct.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] > (a) course of conduct or action > specific
highwaya1393
high road1613
tram-road1859
slippery slope1951
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 3066 (MED) The hihe weie of loves lore Thei gon..Wherof lost is the maydenhede.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iv. met. vii. l. 4287 Goþ now þan..þere as þe heye weye of þe grete ensample ledeþ ȝou.
1529 T. Paynell tr. Assaute & Conquest Heuen xiii. sig. f.iv The worlde and the flesshe..laboure..to brynge vs out of the hyghe waye that leadeth men to heuen.
1581 T. Newton tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. St. Peter & St. Jude f. 125v This is the highwaie to Heauen, and none other:..there needeth nothyng therevnto but a liuely Faithe.
1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 36 This were the high way to become sonnes of Belial indeed.
1690 J. Child Disc. Trade Pref. sig. B6 Trades that we have lost, and are in the High-way to loose.
1717 J. Gay Three Hours after Marriage iii. 65 I never oppose a luciferous Experiment. It is the beaten Highway to Truth.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 121 A shorter cut to the object than through the highway of the moral virtues.
1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life iv. 56 A few rules for their guidance, which..could not fail to lead them on the highway to distinction and public honour.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 288 That state..I perceive to be on the highway to ruin.
1921 E. Herman Creative Prayer 104 That world of reality..is..Love, and its highway—the great orientating path that gives it coherence—is Christ.
1956 R. Carrington Guide Earth Hist. (1958) x. 103 Like the reptiles after them, they went in time down the bleak highway to extinction.
2003 U.S. News & World Rep. 10 Feb. 10/2 China is on the highway to superpowerdom.
b. The usual or most direct course of action, thought, speech, etc.Chiefly in figurative contexts.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [noun] > usual course, condition, etc. > the usual or ordinary way or procedure
coursec1325
highway1550
way1556
the common (also general, usual) road1607
the beaten track1638
run1688
1550 W. Salesbury Baterie of Popes Botereulx sig. B.i We do not greatly stray frome our hygh way, at what time so euer we speke of sacrificer, or of sacrifice besyde this terme Altare.
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. i. 10 Crossing the plaine high way of talke. View more context for this quotation
a1637 B. Jonson Timber 841 in Wks. (1640) III Hee never forc'd his language, nor went out of the high way of speaking; but for some great necessity, or apparent profit.
1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week Proeme sig. A3 Other Poet travailing in this plain High-way of Pastoral.
1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy II. xix. 161 There was not a stage in the life of man..but he had some favourite notion to himself, springing out of it, as sceptical, and as far out of the high-way of thinking, as these two which have been explained.
1829 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 303 The rage of the present day is to leave the great high way of knowledge, which has been trodden for ages, and seek out bypaths.
1869 E. P. Hood Lamps, Pitchers & Trumpets vi. 220 He always keeps such a highway of speech that the most illiterate can apprehend him.
1878 M. J. Evans tr. J. J. van Oosterzee Pract. Theol. i. 39 Travel in the evangelical-apostolic highway, to the avoiding on the one hand of all narrow by-paths, and on the other of all Modernistic abysmal depths.
1932 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 42 195 Still another reason for the predilection of many of us for the broad highways of thought and feeling is a too naïve acceptance of science and the scientific view of the world.
1984 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Mar. 279/1 Soviet Marxism..had a clear and sharp outline, with its theory of a single dominant historical highway.
2005 R. G. Eisenhauer Paradox & Perspicacity ii. 49 A precarious, highly tendentious recombinatory contraption that shuns the main highways of thought and opens instead onto narrower byways and secondary streets.
4. In extended use.
a. The usual or most direct route, by land or water, followed when travelling through a place, between particular places, or for a certain purpose.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > main
highwaya1398
main line1845
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > main or major road
great road1614
high road1620
main road1741
highway1837
traffic artery1845
trunk road1848
main-way1862
arterial road1886
primary roada1903
route1912
arterial1920
major road1930
spine road1961
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. cxlii. 1041 Beþ ofte knottes ymade on trees and in schrubbes..in tokne and marke of þe hihe weye to schewe þe certeyn and siker weye to weyfarynge men.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 70 In þe desertes of Araby by þe hie way toward Egipte.
1684 in Roxburghe Ballads (1885) V. 464 From Westminster-Hall to the Temple each day The River of Thames 'twas made a High-way.
1782 T. Paine Let. to Abbe Raynal 76 The sea is the world's highway; and he who arrogates a prerogrative over it, trangresses the right..of nations.
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville I. 79 The Platte has become a highway for the fur traders.
1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 220 The great sea on the west, the natural highway of commerce.
1930 S. Greenbie Romantic East xi. 144 On the highway between India and China, they [sc. the people of Siam] are ambivalent in their outlook on life.
2008 S. L. Ulanski Gulf Stream i. i. 11 The North Atlantic gyre would become the sea highway for Europeans traveling to far-off destinations.
b. A track or route regularly used by animals; (also) a fixed route along which something travels or moves; a course, a path.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [noun] > regularly used
highwayc1425
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Vesp. B.xii) (1904) 33 He [sc. the wolf] fleeþ al þe Covert as a boor, and comonly by þe hie waies.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 253/2 Poore ignorant men runne thus like Cranes, and..goe the beastes high way, (as the prouerbe is).
1622 T. Scott Belgicke Pismire 17 You may obserue the pathes and high-wayes betwixt one nest and another, is track't and beaten plaine with their little feet.
1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies 206 We were on the great highway of these migratory herds.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect ii. i. 359 The concurrence of Sensations in one common stream of consciousness,—in the same cerebral highway.
1866 B. Taylor Passing Sirens in Poems 179 But mark the burning highway of the sun.
1916 Hahnemannian Monthly Apr. 250 With the heart standing between these two great highways of blood current.
1999 CPRE Voice Spring 7/3 One of our deep country lanes, with hedgerows along either side, is an absolute highway for bats.
5. More fully data highway.
a. Computing. A pathway or bus (bus n.1 2b) connecting different parts of a single computer system.
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society > computing and information technology > hardware > [noun] > electronic component, circuitry > signal path
bus1946
data path1947
highway1949
address bus1956
1949 D. R. Hartree Calculating Instruments & Machines viii. 107 A number of source-gates..on the right, and a number of destination-gates on the left, are connected by a single bus labelled ‘Highway’. In this bus there is a further gate, labelled ‘transfer gate’.
1977 Nature 28 Apr. 760/1 The transformed data then becoming available either on an output data highway, or in appropriate internal registers of the microprocessor.
1989 J. Gatenby GCSE Computer Stud. vi. 94 The routes on which the pulses travel in parallel streams are known as data buses or highways.
2008 C. Sandler Laptops All-in-One Desk Ref. for Dummies vii. iii. 459 You need a way into your laptop's internal bus (its data highway), and often you can easily accomplish that.
b. Computing and Telecommunications. More fully information highway. A connection between different systems; esp. one providing high-speed communication. Cf. information superhighway n. at information n. Compounds 2.
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1960 U.S. Patent 2,947,819 6 In the assumed call, the switches associated with highway 1 in both line terminating unit 21 and in incoming register 34 are turned on .
1961 Brit. Patent 866,653 1/1 This interconnection is performed through one or more multiplex time division links or highways which may be used in common for a plurality of such communications.
1974 New Scientist 17 Jan. 163/1 A real-time programmer is required to work in a small team which is..developing software for microcomputers used in data highways.
1986 Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 16 The construction of digital telecommunications ‘highways’, using hair-thin fibre optic cables capable of simultaneously carrying voice and data traffic.
1994 .net Dec. 11/1 In the next couple of years all the motion video and modem capabilities that the highway requires will be standard features of the PC.
2012 Times & Transcript (New Brunswick) (Nexis) 16 Oct. d5 New Brunswick proudly hitched its economic wagon to the information highway from the get-go.
Compounds
C1. General attributive (in sense 1b).
a. With first element in singular form, as highway system, highway authority, etc.
ΚΠ
1523 in East Anglian Mag. Mar. 261/2 Another chapell of an lady lying by the high weyside that I of late made.
1620 F. Quarles Feast for Wormes sig. B Hee that cleft the furious waues in twaine, Making a High-way passage through the Maine.
1657 S. Colvil Mock Poem 89 And when ye travel in carosses, Ye will salute the high-way crosses.
1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ 152 Any poor Cottager that lives by the high-way side.
1744 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Jan. iii. 39 If..Highway Sullidge and Dung are mixed together.
1759 A. Brice Grand Gazetteer 697/2 Apple-trees..thrive here better than in any other County. The Highway Hedges are full of 'em.
1795 S. J. Pratt Gleanings through Wales I. 367 I resorted to the house of a friend..in the highway passage to Helveotsluice.
1805 J. C. Loudon Treat. Country Resid. II. vii. ii. 393 That beautiful simplicity, connexion, and picturesque effect, which may be seen in many highway bridges across streams or rivers.
1878 Act 41 & 42 Vict. c. 77 §15 Where it appears to any highway authority that any highway..ought to become a main road [etc.].
1887 E. McClain Digest Decisions Supreme Court Iowa II. 380 The statutory provision..requiring the erection of a sign at a highway crossing.
1913 A. H. Blanchard & H. B. Drowne Text-bk. Highway Engin. vi. 127 Some of the more common soils encountered in highway work are classified as gravel, sand,..and muck.
1952 K. C. Barrons in A. G. Norman Adv. in Agronomy IV. 322 In many instances highway maintenance authorities are responsible for the eradication of noxious perennial weeds growing in the right-of-way.
1991 APWA Reporter Nov. 20/3 The RPM Durable Raised Pavement Marker..is engineered to withstand heavy highway traffic.
1994 C. McCarthy Crossing 423 The castoff tirecasings..lay coiled and corrugated by the highwayside like the sloughed and sunblacked hides of the old dryland saurians.
2000 J. Ott in S. Barron et al. Reading Calif. 54 A numbered highway system best served an automobiling constituency that traveled long distances.
2009 S. W. Schmidt et al. Amer. Govt. & Politics Today (Texas ed.) vi. xxv. 874 Operation of prisons and jails, highway construction and repair,..are just a few examples of private contractors performing state government functions.
b. With first element in plural form, as highways department, highways authority, etc.Frequently (with capital initials) in the names of government agencies, etc., with responsibility for road networks.
ΚΠ
1800 Morning Post 27 Mar. Mr. Burdon moved the Order of the Day on the Highways bill.
1863 Law Times 7 Mar. 245/3 If any doubts should yet linger in any mind as to the advantages to be expected from the new system, they would be removed by the perusal of a small pamphlet on the subject of Highways Management.
1897 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 24 Nov. 1/1 When the Highways Chief talked to Fredericks, he took pains to impress him with the idea that he must win his division.
1919 R. C. Hargreaves in F. A. Cleveland Democracy in Reconstr. xvii. 370 Highways transport is complementary to rail operations.
1928 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 2 765/1 It has been decided that there is a clear case for reform..in highways administration.
1956 Times 25 Feb. 4/2 ‘We never hear the end of the complaints from the villagers if we don't clear a way through immediately,’ a highways official told your Correspondent.
1996 I. Taylor et al. Tales of Two Cities 327 Local councillors and MPs alike in Bolton were up in arms against the Highways Agency of England and Wales.
2004 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 167 502 Each highways authority sets local performance targets for traffic safety.
2012 A. Finkel Turkey v. 110 The decision on whether to build a new third bridge across the Istanbul Bosphorus..has been taken in a back office of the Highways Department in faraway Ankara.
C2. † highway nag n. colloquial Obsolete a horse used for riding on the road.† highway stander n. Obsolete a highwayman; cf. stand v. 3b(b).
highway board n. (also with capital initials) now historical any of various official bodies responsible for the building and maintenance of public roads.
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1824 Morning Post 23 Aug. 1/5 The Highway Board for Paving, Cleansing, Watching, and Lighting.
1925 E. R. A. Seligman Ess. in Econ. vi. 243 It is only in the last few decades that the turnpike trusts are giving way to the highway boards and that the public character is being restored.
2010 E. Jaffe King's Best Highway iii. x. 181 In the middle, state highway boards would actually manage road projects.
Highway Code n. (in the United Kingdom) the official set of rules and guidance for road users, first published in 1931; a copy of this; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > fixed custom regulating traffic > official publication of
Highway Code1929
1929 Times 3 Dec. 11/1 The National ‘Safety First’ Association strongly favours the proposals for..the issue of an official highway code for all road users.
1930 Act 20 & 21 Geo. V c. 45 §1 The Minister shall..prepare a code (in this section referred to as the ‘highway code’) comprising such directions as appear to him to be proper for the guidance of persons using roads.
1935 Archit. Rev. 78 110/3 The free issue of the Highway Code to all of his Majesty's lieges who have come..to years of discretion is a portent.
1972 Listener 23 May 375/3 Here was a book that..had broken the Highway Code of conventional English culture.
2009 P. Carr-Gomm & R. Heygate Bk. Eng. Magic xi. 453 You cannot drive a car just by reading the Highway Code.
highway dog n. (a) a hunting dog skilled at following a scent on the road; also figurative (historical and rare after 17th cent.); (b) chiefly U.S. a stray dog abandoned or living on a highway.
ΚΠ
1615 G. Markham Countrey Contentments i. i. 12 A couple of good high-way dogges, that is to say, Hounds..that..will hunt as well upon a dry, hard, high-way, as upon the freshest moulde.
1818 ‘W. H. Scott’ Brit. Field Sports 304 No Pack was deemed complete without a Couple of staunch highway Dogs, Hounds so named from their superior tenderness of Nose.
1902 Judge's Libr. May The highway dog is scrawny.
1977 J. Lane Secret Chron. ii. vii. 87 It seemed that Earl Lancaster had now gotten him a highway dog in the person of Sir Rhys ap Howel, a hound so cunning and of such perfect scent that he could hunt as well upon a dry highway as upon the freshest mould.
2000 J. Cruisie Welcome to Temptation (2010) iii. 62 My dad never turned a highway dog away. If we had too many, he found homes for the ones we couldn't keep.
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1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 75 He bestowed his blessing vpon mee, and with it a good high-way-Nag.
1652 Hinds Elder Brother 6 Knowls..buyes him a pretty highway Nag.
highway parish n. British (now historical) a local administrative area responsible for the maintenance of its own public roads.Instituted by the Highway Act of 1862, and abolished under the Local Government Act of 1894 (see quot. 2004).
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society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > an administrative division of territory > [noun] > for other specific purposes
school rick1773
school district1794
district1854
highway parish1862
catchment area1945
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > officials responsible for roads > highway authority district
highway parish1862
1862 Highways Act (25 & 26 Vict., c. 31) §22 Where any Parish as defined by this Act, and in this Section called a Highway Parish, is not a Parish separately maintaining its own Poor,..the Highway Board shall issue their Precept or Precepts to the Overseers of the Poor Law Parish.
1885 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 15 385 An ordinary parish may..be conterminous with and practically the same thing as a highway parish.
2004 A. D. W. Smith in P. Baldwin & R. Baldwin Motorway Achievem. I. i. i. 26 Parliament would accept that all the remaining highway districts and highway parishes should be merged with Rural Sanitary Authorities..under the Local Government Act, 1894.
highway patrol n. U.S. (a) a group of workers who patrol roads and highways for the purpose of maintaining them (now rare); (b) a (state) law enforcement agency whose chief role is the enforcing of laws that govern the operation of motor vehicles on public roads and highways; the action of enforcing such laws.
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society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > policeman > traffic policeman
traffic officer1852
traffic cop1905
highway patrol1909
speed cop1924
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > builders or maintainers of roads
waymaker?c1475
roadman1788
road-maker1792
path master1799
roadsman?1807
Macadamite1821
macadamizer1824
road breaker1834
grader1870
asphalter1880
linesman1888
lengthman1902
highway patrol1909
1909 Good Roads Mag. Apr. 130/2 Among the features which the commission has decided on is the highway patrol... It is planned to have repair materials located at frequent intervals along the routes, so that the patrolmen may be able to make all the smaller repairs which the roadway may require.
1914 Atlanta (Georgia) Constit. 11 Nov. 11/5 The county police organization is as well equipped for highway patrol as any other such system in the country. The number of accidents due to speeding has decreased to a marked degree.
1925 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 19 320 Governor Pothier would have a state police, motorized highway patrol, and a bureau of investigation, for Rhode Island.
1957 J. Kerouac Let. 24 June in Sel. Lett. 1957–69 (1999) 44 How do you expect the Highway Patrol would ever let us go free enuf to putput into town in our little bikes and jalopys for food and wine?
2008 N.Y. Times Mag. 3 Aug. 32/2 I learned that Officer Sam Morgan, of the California Highway Patrol, occasionally uses the term ‘cranial-rectal inversion’ when referring to drivers of especially poor judgment.
highway patrolman n. U.S. (a) a worker who maintains the condition of roads as part of the highway patrol (highway patrol n. (a)) (now rare); (b) a police officer belonging to the highway patrol (highway patrol n. (b)).
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1911 Automobile 28 Sept. 519 (caption) One of New York's highway patrolmen working to keep his section in good condition.
1915 Elyria (Ohio) Evening Telegram 6 Nov. 6/2 Under the law it becomes the duty of the highway commissioner, county commissioners, the county highway superintendent..and highway patrolmen to prosecute violations of the law.
1984 T. C. Boyle Budding Prospects (1985) iii. iv. 174 He was a lean, tough, sinewy, head-cracking, doper-busting, macho highway patrolman.
2006 R. D. White Kingfish i. 15 Highway patrolmen clocked him doing forty-eight miles per hour in a thirty-mile zone.
highway rate n. = highway tax n.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > dues or tolls for upkeep or maintenance > [noun]
bridge-boteOE
bridge silverc1254
parkbotea1315
fosse-silver?a1325
pontagea1325
murage1424
pavagec1450
bridge money1482
fox-hen1528
jail money1600
water-corn1600
beaconage1607
castle-bote1628
burgh-bote1647
barbicanage1691
highway rate1697
fossage1757
mint duties1782
1697 D. Defoe Ess. Projects Pref. p. ix To these Assessors shou'd all the Old Rates, Parish-Books, Poor-Rates, and Highway-Rates also be delivered.
1840 T. Hood Knight & Dragon viii He collected..Highway-rates on the roads.
1915 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 62 209 Leeds has a city rate, a consolidated rate, and a highway rate levied by town council.
2008 U.S. States News (Nexis) 15 Jan. He has received emails from constituents who are up in arms about the huge increase in state highway rates.
highway rogue n. now historical and rare a highwayman or highway robber.
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1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 87 Unexpected onsets of the Coolies and high-way roagues.
1727 T. Fuller Introductio ad Prudentiam II. 234 Their own Heart will tell them they have been not a Whit better than highway Rogues.
1836 Satirist 27 Mar. 98/2 Better turn highway rogues than pine here longer.
1903 F. S. Isham Under Rose xix. 275 Their steeds..might still excite the cupidity of highway rogues.
2006 C. Stojanova in L. Badley et al. Trad. World Cinema vii. 110 Juraj Janosik, an eighteenth-century highway rogue, claimed as a national hero in Poland and Slovakia.
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1600 S. Rowlands Letting of Humors Blood xxviii. 34 Three high-way standers, haueing cros-lesse cursse Did greete my friend with, Sir giue vs your pursse.
1658 R. Brathwait Age of Apes in Honest Ghost 231 Pimps, nips, and tints, prinados, highway standers, All which were my familiars.
highway tax n. chiefly U.S. in later use a tax imposed to finance the building and maintenance of public roads.
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1681 Kilburne's Choice Presidents Acts of Parl. (ed. 2) 186 (heading) To distrain for High-way Tax.
1772 London Evening-Post 29 Dec. The highway tax..falls peculiarly heavy on the farmer, and makes no small addition to his other expences.
1895 Laws Wisconsin ccclxxxv. 776 The question whether the highway taxes..shall be paid in labor instead of money.
1958 A. J. Vidich & J. Bensman Small Town in Mass Society vi. 139 Revenues from the highway tax..are supplemented with $27,000 in state aid designated for town roads.
2011 A. Bowman & R. Kearney State & Local Govt. (ed. 8) xii. 343 Privatization remains an attractive option to governors and legislatures intent on holding down highway taxes.
highway thief n. now chiefly historical a person who commits robbery on a public road.
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1578 J. Florio Firste Fruites f. 62v If they haue nothing, they go a stealing, & become high way theeues.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. ii. xvii. 219 From huntsman turning highway thefe.
1782 Flora's Banquet 171 Highway thieves; Damn'd wholesale robbers, ne'er content, 'Till the last penny's lost or spent.
1882 M. F. Tupper Parson & Footpad in 3 Five-act Plays & 12 Dramatic Scenes 308 I'm sure such a man as you wouldn't be a highway thief, if he could help it.
1937 I. Brooke & J. Laver Eng. Costume 17th through 19th Cent. 20 So valuable were these hats that they were the first item to be removed by a highway thief or footpad.
2005 J. Becker Rogue Regime ix. 190 In daytime they would prowl the roads like highway thieves, stopping and robbing those travelling on foot.
highwaywoman n. [after highwayman n.] a woman who holds up travellers on a highway at gunpoint in order to rob them; a female highwayman.
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1734 ‘C. Johnson’ Gen. Hist. Lives Highwaymen 192 (heading) The Life of Mol Cutpurse, a Pick-pocket, and Highway-woman.
1840 Colburn's Kalendar Amusem. 347 Like highwaywomen crying out, ‘Your purse, or your life!’
1903 P. W. Joyce Social Hist. Anc. Ireland I. iv. 896 In the life of St. Mochua of Balla there is a curious account of two highway-women... When a traveller came up they laid hold of him and demanded all his valuables.
2006 P. Parrinder Nation & Novel ii. 48 His adventure with three amorous highwaywomen ends in disappointment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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