WAY

way, right smart

(adverb) to a great degree or by a great distance; very much (‘right smart’ is regional in the United States); “way over budget”; “way off base”; “the other side of the hill is right smart steeper than the side we are on”

means, agency, way

(noun) thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end; “a means of control”; “an example is the best agency of instruction”; “the true way to success”

way

(noun) a journey or passage; “they are on the way”

way, path, way of life

(noun) a course of conduct; “the path of virtue”; “we went our separate ways”; “our paths in life led us apart”; “genius usually follows a revolutionary path”

way

(noun) any artifact consisting of a road or path affording passage from one place to another; “he said he was looking for the way out”

manner, mode, style, way, fashion

(noun) how something is done or how it happens; “her dignified manner”; “his rapid manner of talking”; “their nomadic mode of existence”; “in the characteristic New York style”; “a lonely way of life”; “in an abrasive fashion”

way

(noun) the property of distance in general; “it’s a long way to Moscow”; “he went a long ways”

way

(noun) doing as one pleases or chooses; “if I had my way”

way

(noun) a general category of things; used in the expression ‘in the way of’; “they didn’t have much in the way of clothing”

direction, way

(noun) a line leading to a place or point; “he looked the other direction”; “didn’t know the way home”

way

(noun) a portion of something divided into shares; “they split the loot three ways”

room, way, elbow room

(noun) space for movement; “room to pass”; “make way for”; “hardly enough elbow room to turn around”

way

(noun) the condition of things generally; “that’s the way it is”; “I felt the same way”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

way (plural ways)

(heading) To do with a place or places.

A road, a direction, a (physical or conceptual) path from one place to another.

"It's a long way to Tipperary, / it's a long way to go." [It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, a marching and music hall song by Jack Judge and Henry "Harry" James Williams, popularized especially by British troops in World War One]

"Do you know the way to San Jose?" [song title and lyrics, Bacharach and David]

A means to enter or leave a place.

A roughly-defined geographical area.

A method or manner of doing something; a mannerism.

A state or condition

(heading) Personal interaction.

Possibility (usually in the phrases 'any way' and 'no way').

Determined course; resolved mode of action or conduct.

(paganism) A tradition within the modern pagan faith of Heathenry, dedication to a specific deity or craft, Way of wyrd, Way of runes, Way of Thor etc.

• To walk the Way of the Runes, you must experience the runes as they manifest both in the part of Midgard that lies outside yourself and the worlds within. (Diana Paxson)

(nautical) Speed, progress, momentum.

A degree, an amount, a sense.

(US, As the head of an interjectory clause, followed by an infinitive starting with “to”) Acknowledges that a task has been done well, chiefly in expressions of sarcastic congratulation.

(plural only) The timbers of shipyard stocks that slope into the water and along which a ship or large boat is launched.

(plural only) The longitudinal guiding surfaces on the bed of a planer, lathe, etc. along which a table or carriage moves.

Hyponyms

• highway

• runway

• slipway

• taxiway

Synonyms

See also way

Interjection

way

(only in reply to no way) yes; it is true; it is possible

Synonym: yes way

Verb

way (third-person singular simple present ways, present participle waying, simple past and past participle wayed)

(obsolete) To travel.

Etymology 2

Adverb

way (not comparable)

(informal, with comparative or modified adjective) Much.

(slang, with positive adjective) Very.

(informal) Far.

Synonyms

• (much): far, much, loads

• (very): so, very, so much

Etymology 3

Noun

way (plural ways)

The letter for the w sound in Pitman shorthand.

Anagrams

• Yaw, wya, yaw

Etymology 1

Proper noun

Way

(Christianity, with the definite article) Christianity.

(Chinese philosophy, with the definite article) synonym of Tao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way in which to live one's life.

(Sussex, with the definite article) Clipping of South Downs Way.

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Way

A surname.

Anagrams

• Yaw, wya, yaw

Source: Wiktionary


Way, adv. Etym: [Aphetic form of away.]

Definition: Away. [Obs. or Archaic] Chaucer. To do way, to take away; to remove. [Obs.] "Do way your hands." Chaucer.

– To make way with, to make away with. See under Away. [Archaic]

Way, n. Etym: [OE. wey, way, AS. weg; akin to OS., D., OHG., & G. weg, Icel. vegr, Sw. vÀg, Dan. vei, Goth. wigs, L. via, and AS. wegan to move, L. vehere to carry, Skr. vah. sq. root136. 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.

Definition: The timbers on which a ship is launched.

11. pl. (Mach.)

Definition: 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)

Definition: 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.

Way, v. t.

Definition: To go or travel to; to go in, as a way or path. [Obs.] "In land not wayed." Wyclif.

Way, v. i.

Definition: To move; to progress; to go. [R.] On a time as they together wayed. Spenser.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

24 December 2024

INTUITIVELY

(adverb) in an intuitive manner; “inventors seem to have chosen intuitively a combination of explosive and aggressive sounds as warning signals to be used on automobiles”


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