paths

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of path.

   The garden was crossed by narrow gravel paths between the flower beds.

   Mountain rescuers mapped the safest paths down from the summit.

   Note

   The plural is regular, and it is spelled exactly like the present-tense verb, as in she paths into a folder. A determiner or number before it marks the noun, while a subject before it marks the verb. Every meaning of the noun pluralizes the same way: gravel paths through a garden, career paths, file paths in a directory tree, and the Pagan paths such as Wicca, druidism and Heathenry.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of path.

   Note

   A singular present-tense subject takes this form (she paths, the script paths), while I, you, we and they keep path. The construction shifts with the meaning. Making a way takes a direct object, as in the lead skier paths the snow. Moving through directories or finding a route takes none, so a preposition carries the destination: paths into the folder, paths to the exit.

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