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.