highway

See also: Highway

English

Etymology

From Middle English heiȝwai, heiȝwei, from Old English hēahweġ (“main road, highway”), corresponding to high +‎ way. Compare highgate, high street, high road.

Cognate with Scots heaway, heway, hieway, hichway, heichway (“highway”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪweɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -aɪweɪ

Noun

highway (plural highways)

1. (historical) A road that is higher than the surrounding land and has drainage ditches at the sides
2. A main public road, especially a multi-lane, high-speed thoroughfare.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

3. (figurative) A way; a path that leads to a certain destiny

   You're on a highway to greatness.

   • 1979, “Highway to Hell”, in Highway to Hell, performed by AC/DC:

     I'm on the highway to hell

   • 2024 May 8, Damian Carrington, “‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair. World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target”, in The Guardian, UK:

     So how do the scientists cope with their work being ignored for decades, and living in a world their findings indicate is on a “highway to hell”?.

4. (law, rail transport) Any public road for vehicular traffic.
5. (computing) Synonym of bus (“common connection for two or more circuits or components”)

Synonyms

• (road): hwy. (abbreviation)

Hyponyms

• (main public road): expressway, motorway

Derived terms

• belt highway
• controlled-access highway
• divided highway
• Hershey highway
• Highway Code
• highway hypnosis
• highwayman
• highway patrol
• highway robber, highway robbery, highway-robbery
• highway yellow
• hwy. (abbreviation)
• Karakoram Highway
• King's highway
• limited-access highway
• lost highway
• my way or the highway, one's way or the highway
• plain as Dunstable highway
• semi-highway
• St Kew Highway
• superinformation highway
• tourist highway

Translations

main public road

• Afrikaans: snelweg
• Albanian: autostradë f
• Arabic: طَرِيق (ar) m (ṭarīq), طَرِيق عَامّ m (ṭarīq ʕāmm)
• Armenian: խճուղի (hy) (xčuġi), մայրուղի (hy) (mayruġi)
• Azerbaijani: şose, magistral, avtomagistral
• Basque: autobide, errepide
• Belarusian: шаса́ f (šasá), шаша́ f (šašá), саша́ f (sašá), шо́са f (šósa), магістра́ль f (mahistrálʹ), аўтамагістра́ль f (aŭtamahistrálʹ), аўтастра́да f (aŭtastráda)
• Bengali: রাজপথ (bn) (rajpoth)
• Bulgarian: автомагистра́ла f (avtomagistrála), автостра́да f (avtostráda), магистра́ла (bg) f (magistrála), аутобан m (autoban)
• Burmese: လမ်းမကြီး (lam:ma.kri:)
• Catalan: carretera (ca) f, autopista (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公路 (zh) (gōnglù)

• Crimean Tatar: taş yol
• Czech: dálnice (cs) f
• Danish: motorvej (da) c
• Dutch: snelweg (nl) m, autosnelweg (nl) m, autostrade (nl) f, autoroute (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: ŝoseo
• Estonian: maantee, kiirtee
• Farefare: zuusore class 3/4
• Finnish: päätie, valtatie (fi), pikatie
• French: grand chemin (fr) m, grand’route (fr) f, chaussée (fr) f (Belgium), autoroute (fr) f
• Gagauz: şösä
• Galician: autoestrada (gl) f, autovía f, estrada (gl) f
• Georgian: გზატკეცილი (gzaṭḳecili), მაგისტრალი (ka) (magisṭrali), ავტომაგისტრალი (avṭomagisṭrali)
• German: Hauptstraße (de) f, Chaussee (de) f, Autobahn (de) f
• Greek: αυτοκινητόδρομος (el) m (aftokinitódromos)

  Ancient: λεωφόρος f (leōphóros)

• Gujarati: ધોરીમાર્ગ m (dhorīmārg), રાજમાર્ગ m (rājmārg)
• Hebrew: כְּבִישׁ מַהִיר (he) m (kvish mahír), אוֹטוֹסְטְרָדָה (he) f (otostráda)
• Hindi: राजमार्ग (hi) m (rājmārg)
• Hungarian: autópálya (hu), országút (hu)
• Icelandic: hraðbraut (is) f, þjóðvegur m
• Indonesian: jalan raya (id)
• Ingrian: maantee
• Irish: mórbhealach m, mórbhóthar m
• Italian: strada maestra f, via maestra f, autostrada (it) f
• Japanese: 公道 (ja) (こうどう, kōdō), 街道 (ja) (かいどう, kaidō), 公路 (ja) (こうろ, kōro)
• Kazakh: тас жол (tas jol), шоссе (şosse), магистраль (magistral), автомагистраль (avtomagistral)
• Khmer: ផ្លូវធំ (phləw thum), អូតូរុត (ʼoutourut)
• Korean: 공로(公路) (ko) (gongno)
• Kyrgyz: шоссе (ky) (şosse), даңгыр жол (daŋgır jol), магистраль (magistral), автомагистраль (avtomagistral)
• Lao: ທາງຫຼວງ (thāng lūang)
• Latvian: automaģistrāle f
• Lithuanian: automagistralė f, autostrada (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Schnellstrossen ?
• Macedonian: автопат m (avtopat)
• Malay: jalan raya (ms), lebuh raya (ms)
• Manx: ard-raad m
• Maori: huanui, huarahi
• Marathi: महामार्ग m (mahāmārg)
• Meänkieli: tolppatie
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хурдны зам (xurdny zam), гол зам (gol zam), төв зам (töv zam), авто зам (avto zam)

• Moore: so-kõodre, so-raoogo
• Norman: grand'c'mîn m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: motorvei (no) m, motorveg m

• Old Norse: braut f
• Persian: بزرگراه (fa) (bozorgrâh), آزادراه (âzâdrâh), شاهراه (fa) (šâhrâh)
• Plautdietsch: Huachwajch m
• Polish: autostrada (pl) f, szosa (pl) f
• Portuguese: rodovia (pt) f, autoestrada (pt) f
• Romanian: autostradă (ro) f, șosea (ro) f, drum mare (ro) n
• Russian: шоссе́ (ru) n (šossɛ́), магистра́ль (ru) f (magistrálʹ), автостра́да (ru) f (avtostráda), автомагистра́ль (ru) f (avtomagistrálʹ), автодоро́га (ru) f (avtodoróga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀утопӯт m, аутоцѐста f

  Roman: àutopūt (sh) m (Serbia), autocèsta (sh) f (Croatia)

• Silesian: autobana f
• Slovak: diaľnica f
• Slovene: avtocesta (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: dróha f

• Spanish: carretera (es) f, autopista (es) f
• Swedish: motorväg (sv) c, landsväg (sv) c, väg (sv) c
• Tagalog: lansangan
• Tajik: шоссе (šosse), шоҳроҳ (šohroh), магистрал (magistral), автомагистрал (avtomagistral), бузургроҳ (buzurgroh)
• Tamil: நெடுஞ்சாலை (ta) (neṭuñcālai), பெருவழி (ta) (peruvaḻi)
• Telugu: రాజమార్గము (te) (rājamārgamu)
• Thai: ทางหลวง (th) (taang-lǔuang)
• Tibetan: གཞུང་ལམ (gzhung lam)
• Turkish: otoyol (tr), otoban (tr), anayol
• Turkmen: şosse, magistral, awtomagistral (tk)
• Ukrainian: шосе́ n (šosé), магістра́ль f (mahistrálʹ), автошля́х (uk) m (avtošljáx), автомагістра́ль (uk) f (avtomahistrálʹ), автостра́да (uk) f (avtostráda)
• Urdu: شاہْراہ f (śāhrāh), شارع (śāre)
• Uzbek: shosse (uz), magistral (uz), avtomagistral (uz), avtostrada (uz)
• Vietnamese: xa lộ (vi), đường ô tô, đường quốc lộ, quốc lộ (vi)
• Walloon: grand-rote f, cwate-bindes (wa) f, mwaisse voye (wa) f
• Welsh: priffordd f
• Yiddish: שטראָז ? (shtroz), שאָסיי m (shosey), אויטאָסטראַט m (oytostrat)

Verb

highway (third-person singular simple present highways, present participle highwaying, simple past and past participle highwayed)

1. To travel on a highway

References

• “highway”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “highway”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.