highway

Everyday

1. A main road, usually big and fast, that joins towns and cities. tree →
2. (old or formal) Any public road; «the Highway Code» is the UK book of road rules. tree →

In the lessons

In the USA and Canada «highway» is the everyday word for a big main road, like a «freeway» or «interstate»; in the UK people more often say «motorway» or «main road». Road safety: never walk or play on a highway. Phrases: «on the highway», «highway patrol», «the Highway Code».

Examples

• We drove along the highway to the beach. tree →
• The highway was busy with trucks. tree →
• Never cross a highway on foot. tree →
• The highway runs right across the country. tree →
• Learn the rules in the Highway Code before you ride your bike on the road. tree →
• Highway patrol officers stopped the speeding car. tree →
• There was a traffic jam on the highway. tree →
• A Rat was traveling along the King's highway. tree →

Note

Countable: a highway, highways. American and Canadian «highway» ≈ British «motorway» or «A-road». A «highwayman» in old stories was a robber on horseback who stopped travellers on the road.

In Jewish tradition

The king's road, a main public road that travelers could use. In the Prophets it is also simply a public road, the place where a man was killed or a field lay. In the psalm "the highways in the heart" is read as a longing for the roads that lead to Jerusalem.

Interpretation. Tradition reads the psalm as a person whose heart is set on the pilgrim roads up to the Temple.

Examples

• 'Let me pass through thy land; I will go along by the highway, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. (Torah DEU.2.27, JPS 1917) tree →
• 'Let me pass through thy land; we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we will not drink of the water of the wells; we will go by the king's highway, until we have passed thy border.' (Torah NUM.21.22, JPS 1917) tree →
• And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. (Prophets 2SA.20.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• Happy is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the highways. (Writings PSA.84.6, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fullers' field. (Prophets ISA.36.2, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: a highway, highways. American and Canadian «highway» ≈ British «motorway» or «A-road». A «highwayman» in old stories was a robber on horseback who stopped travellers on the road.