waywardenn.
/ˈweɪˌwɔːdn/, U.S. /ˈweɪˌwɔrd(ə)n/ Now historical.
A person (later, one of a board) elected to supervise the highways of a parish or district.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > officials responsible for roads
way-serjeant1334
wayman1458
warden1486
waywarden1649
way-reeve1788
1649 in Rec. Colony of New Plymouth (1855) II. 137 Wee present the way wardens or surveyors of Taunton for neglecting to mend the hyewayes.
1673 in J. C. Frost Rec. Town of Jamaica, Long Island, N.Y. (1914) I. 31 Thomas Smith and John Skidmore shall be Way Wardings..to call..Men..for repayreing and cleareing the hyghe Wayes.
1691 in Early Rec. Town of Providence (Rhode Island) (1895) VIII. 178 Chosen for way wardens Sam: whipple & Joseph Hearnden.
1711 in Jrnl. Cork Hist. & Archaeol. Soc. (1896) 31 We appoint Captn. Richard Hungerford and Mr. Robert Gillman to be way-wardens for the same burrough.
1776 G. White Let. 8 Jan. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 204 As to that [shrew-ash] on the Plestor ‘The late vicar stubb'd and burnt it.’ when he was way-warden.
1829 in Archaeologia (1831) 23 398 Mr. George Charman, the way-warden..had frequently observed that cattle resorted to a particular spot to rest.
1862 Act 25 & 26 Victoria c. 61 §9 The Highway Board shall consist of the Waywardens elected in the several Places within the District.
1902 Polit. Sci. Q. 17 227 The surveyors of highways, familiarly known as ‘waymen’ or ‘waywardens’, occupied a comparatively simple position.
1946 W. E. Tate Parish Chest II. iv. 246 Most parishes had waywardens—the justices took care of that.
2005 D. Dickson Old World Colony xi. 429 It was usually a case of parish overseers or ‘way-wardens’ organizing communal labour for road-repair duties.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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