roadworkn.
/ˈrəʊdwəːk/, U.S. /ˈroʊdˌwərk/ 1. † b. The management of a horse, carriage, etc., on the road; the knowledge or skill needed for riding or driving on roads. Obsolete.
a. Usually in form road work. Work done on the road by a horse or other draft animal. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > effort or exertion > [noun] > labour or toil > done by animals > specific
roadwork1755
collar-work1872
1755 M. Wickham Utility & Advantages Broad High Wheel-carriages 33 If he had Business but for three or four Horses, and consequently would not carry such Loads as they could, whose Farm or Road-work would answer the keeping more.
1794 J. Clark Gen. View Agric. Brecknock 24 The parochial roads especially are so narrow, and cut up by the waggon wheels always traversing the same tract, that no road work can be done by yoke cattle.
1851 ‘Cecil’ Stud Farm x. 162 For road work, either under the saddle or in harness, I have no doubt the shoes may be kept on.
1863 J. C. Jeaffreson Live it Down II. xiv. 222 Call me in as a witness that the Easthaven thief sent you out with a horse not fit for road-work.
1897 T. Lister Queen's Hounds & Stag-hunting Recoll. ix. 183 Road work, and fast road work, is inevitable, and a noisy hackney-actioned horse knocks his legs to pieces in no time.
1963 J. A. Hostetler Amish Society xiv. 300 Farm hands ribbed their employers about the inconsistency of hitching up horses for road work when transportation was easier and more efficient with the tractor.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > management of cattle on the road
roadwork1756
cattle-grid1940
cattle-stop1949
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > [noun] > on road
roadwork1756
virage1963
1756 F. Greville & F. Greville Maxims, Characters, & Refl. 22 They jolted his friend Jack broad awake, and looking out of the window, ‘d—n your body, says he, where did you learn your road-work, boy?’
1763 A. Murphy Citizen ii. i. 26 Oh! no—I know my road work my girl—When I have my coachman's hat on.
1827 Sporting Mag. 21 138 I had nearly fifty miles' road-work this day, which..is a punisher.
1889 J. J. Hissey Tour in Phaeton 395 A few hints about roadwork..will possibly prove acceptable.
2.
a. Work done in building or repairing roads.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > [noun]
roadwork1763
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > [noun] > road maintenance or repair > repairs to roads
roadwork1763
1763 J. Hawkins Observ. State Highways 30 Distress-Warrants are issued, before the Execution whereof the wet Weather sets in, and there is an End of Road-Work for that Year.
1766 Seasonable Addr. Alteration Law Entails 33 The people cannot be brought to the road-work until their fuel is secured.
1826 Times 17 Aug. 2/6 A plan for applying the labours of the unemployed to some road-work.
1844 E. Leahy Pract. Treat. Making & Repairing Roads viii. 205 A six inch Theodolite will be sufficient for the ordinary practice of road work.
1919 Atlanta Constit. 28 Aug. 4/6 [He] crossed the road where the tools used in the road work were, picked up a paving hammer, [etc.].
1997 Sci. Amer. Sept. 26/3 The expense of ensuring that routine roadwork doesn't send Buicks hurtling into the guardrail.
b. In plural. (Now the usual sense.)
ΚΠ
1811 Jrnl. House of Representatives Commonw. Pennsylvania 30 Mar. 764 To extend their route..on the same conditions..which are hereby extended to any canals, bridges, aqueducts, road-works or other devices.
1848 Brit. Farmer's Mag. 12 116/1 The men who were dismissed from the road-works, walking about idle in degradation.
1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. 21 100 To effect a diversion of road and other works.
1939 Liverpool Daily Post 9 Nov. 3/2 When any road works are about to be undertaken, a notice headed ‘Reconstruction of Pavement’ is exhibited near the scene of operations.
1966 D. Francis Flying Finish x. 126 The horsebox drivers..had to make a detour because of roadworks.
2000 Sunday Times 23 July i. 32/7 Roadworks both ways—hardshoulder and inside lanes closed.
3. Exercise or training involving running on roads by a sportsperson, racehorse, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > training > [noun]
training1581
work1846
training session1850
overtraining1856
roadwork1856
cross-training1903
groundwork1906
sweat1916
repetition1919
repetition running1955
weight training1955
circuit training1957
interval running1957
interval training1962
repetition training1965
brick1996
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports i. ii. i. 97/2 Few packs of staghounds could bear the road-work which most foxhounds undergo besides their runs, which are sometimes two or three in the day.
1889 J. Splan Life with Trotters xii. 318 When you have hardened your horse's legs and body by road work you commence his work on the track.
1928 Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. at Road Road-work, n., exercise taken on a road, as by athletes in training.
1946 Liberty 15 June 74/1 Paul is still the bow-tie middleweight he was when he boxed at the University,..and counts the day as lost if he hasn't done five or ten miles of roadwork.
1964 D. Francis Nerve xvi. 190 A..little used secondary road..was a regular route for the Axminster horses on roadwork days.
2004 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 9 Feb. c5 Elite athletes have no loss of fitness when they substitute deep-water running for roadwork, even if they are not doing any land training for three weeks or more.
4. Criminals' slang. Work done by an itinerant thief. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > [noun] > professional > branch of > specific itinerant
roadwork1925
1925 H. Leverage Dict. Underworld in Flynn's 14 Mar. 281/1 Road work,..pocket picking, etc., done while traveling.
1955 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. No. 24. 84 Because of the stresses and strains of road work, he [sc. the road man] is usually a sharp, alert thief.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1755