travels

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of travel.

   Sound travels more slowly through air than through water.

   The salesman travels across four states each season.

   Note

   Its subject need not be a person: sound travels, news travels, light travels, all in the sense of passing or being carried from one place to another. With a person as subject it can stand alone (she travels for work) or take the place as a direct object (he travels the coast each summer). On a basketball court it names a violation: a player who travels has moved with the ball without dribbling.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of travel.

   She kept a detailed journal of her travels through the highlands.

   The author drew on years of travels to write the memoir.

   Note

   The plural does work the singular rarely does. On its own, travel usually names the activity in general (air travel, travel is tiring). Travels names a connected run of journeys, as in her travels through the highlands, and by extension a written account of them. Older English also used travel for labor or childbirth, in the sense of travail, but that meaning is no longer in use.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2