# highway

Pronunciation: say "HY-way" /ˈhaɪweɪ/

## Noun

1. A main public road, especially a wide, high-speed thoroughfare with several lanes.
   - Simple: A big, fast road with several lanes that links towns and cities.
   - _Construction crews widened the highway to ease the daily traffic jams._
   - _Several major highways converge just north of the city center._
2. Any public road open to vehicular traffic.
   - Simple: Any public road that vehicles are allowed to use.
   - _Under the statute, every highway must remain open to all vehicles._
   - _Local highways fall under the council's maintenance obligations._
3. A course or path that leads toward a particular destiny.
   - Simple: A path in life that leads toward a certain future, good or bad.
   - _Critics warned that the country was on a highway to economic collapse._
   - _Their reckless choices became a highway straight to ruin._
4. In computing, a bus: a common connection shared by two or more circuits or components.
   - Simple: In computers, a shared connection that links two or more parts of an electronic system.
   - _Every card plugged into the backplane exchanges signals with the others over a single shared highway._
   - _The address highway determines where information is sent on the board._

## Noun

5. A raised road standing higher than the surrounding land, with drainage ditches running along its sides. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In older use, a road built higher than the land nearby, with ditches at the sides to drain water.
   - _The highway stood well above the flooded fields, its side ditches brimming after the rain._
   - _Carts rolled along the raised highway while the lowlands lay underwater._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To travel on a highway

## Origin

From Middle English heiȝwai, from Old English hēahweġ ("main road, highway"), formed from "high" plus "way." It is related to Scots hieway ("highway").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/highway (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).