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On the road   /ɑn ðə roʊd/   Listen
noun
Road  n.  
1.
A journey, or stage of a journey. (Obs.) "With easy roads he came to Leicester."
2.
An inroad; an invasion; a raid. (Obs.)
3.
A place where one may ride; an open way or public passage for vehicles, persons, and animals; a track for travel, forming a means of communication between one city, town, or place, and another. "The most villainous house in all the London road." Note: The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street, and lane.
4.
A place where ships may ride at anchor at some distance from the shore; a roadstead; often in the plural; as, Hampton Roads. "Now strike your saile, ye jolly mariners, For we be come unto a quiet rode (road)."
On the road, or Uponthe road, traveling or passing over a road; coming or going; traveling; on the way. "My hat and wig will soon be here, They are upon the road."
Road agent, a highwayman, especially on the stage routes of the unsettled western parts of the United States; a humorous euphemism. (Western U.S.) "The highway robber road agent he is quaintly called."
Road book, a guidebook in respect to roads and distances.
road kill See roadkill in the vocabulary.
Road metal, the broken, stone used in macadamizing roads.
Road roller, a heavy roller, or combinations of rollers, for making earth, macadam, or concrete roads smooth and compact. often driven by steam.
Road runner (Zool.), the chaparral cock.
Road steamer, a locomotive engine adapted to running on common roads.
To go on the road, to engage in the business of a commercial traveler. (Colloq.)
To take the road, to begin or engage in traveling.
To take to the road, to engage in robbery upon the highways.
Synonyms: Way; highway; street; lane; pathway; route; passage; course. See Way.


preposition
On  prep.  The general signification of on is situation, motion, or condition with respect to contact or support beneath; as:
1.
At, or in contact with, the surface or upper part of a thing, and supported by it; placed or lying in contact with the surface; as, the book lies on the table, which stands on the floor of a house on an island. "I stood on the bridge at midnight."
2.
To or against the surface of; used to indicate the motion of a thing as coming or falling to the surface of another; as, rain falls on the earth. "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken."
3.
Denoting performance or action by contact with the surface, upper part, or outside of anything; hence, by means of; with; as, to play on a violin or piano. Hence, figuratively, to work on one's feelings; to make an impression on the mind.
4.
At or near; adjacent to; indicating situation, place, or position; as, on the one hand, on the other hand; the fleet is on the American coast.
5.
In addition to; besides; indicating multiplication or succession in a series; as, heaps on heaps; mischief on mischief; loss on loss; thought on thought.
6.
Indicating dependence or reliance; with confidence in; as, to depend on a person for assistance; to rely on; hence, indicating the ground or support of anything; as, he will promise on certain conditions; to bet on a horse; based on certain assumptions.
7.
At or in the time of; during; as, on Sunday we abstain from labor. See At (synonym).
8.
At the time of; often conveying some notion of cause or motive; as, on public occasions, the officers appear in full dress or uniform; the shop is closed on Sundays. Hence, In consequence of, or following; as, on the ratification of the treaty, the armies were disbanded; start on the count of three.
9.
Toward; for; indicating the object of some passion; as, have pity or compassion on him.
10.
At the peril of, or for the safety of. "Hence, on thy life."
11.
By virtue of; with the pledge of; denoting a pledge or engagement, and put before the thing pledged; as, he affirmed or promised on his word, or on his honor.
12.
To the account of; denoting imprecation or invocation, or coming to, falling, or resting upon; as, on us be all the blame; a curse on him. "His blood be on us and on our children."
13.
In reference or relation to; as, on our part expect punctuality; a satire on society.
14.
Of. (Obs.) "Be not jealous on me." "Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner?" Note: Instances of this usage are common in our older writers, and are sometimes now heard in illiterate speech.
15.
Occupied with; in the performance of; as, only three officers are on duty; on a journey; on the job; on an assignment; on a case; on the alert.
16.
In the service of; connected with; a member of; as, he is on a newspaper; on a committee. Note: On and upon are in general interchangeable. In some applications upon is more euphonious, and is therefore to be preferred; but in most cases on is preferable.
17.
In reference to; about; concerning; as, to think on it; to meditate on it.
On a bowline. (Naut.) Same as Closehauled.
On a wind, or On the wind (Naut.), sailing closehauled.
On a sudden. See under Sudden.
On board, On draught, On fire, etc. See under Board, Draught, Fire, etc.
On it, On't, of it. (Obs. or Colloq.)
On shore, on land; to the shore.
On the road, On the way, On the wing, etc. See under Road, Way, etc.
On to, upon; on; to; sometimes written as one word, onto, and usually called a colloquialism; but it may be regarded in analogy with into. "They have added the -en plural form on to an elder plural." "We see the strength of the new movement in the new class of ecclesiastics whom it forced on to the stage."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"On the road" Quotes from Famous Books



... of the Capitol tolled to arms within ten minutes after the return of the herald. The great gonfalon of Rome was unfurled on the highest tower; and the very evening after Adrian's arrest, the forces of the Senator, headed by Rienzi in person, were on the road to Palestrina. The troopers of the Barons had, however, made incursions as far as Tivoli with the supposed connivance of the inhabitants, and Rienzi halted at that beautiful spot to raise recruits, and receive the allegiance ...
— Rienzi • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... Eddie done what he done—every damn thing! Look what's happened since Maxy Venem got sore and he and Minna started out to get him! Morris Stein takes away the Silhouette Theatre from us and we can't get no time for 'Lilith' on Broadway. We go on the road and bust. All our Saratoga winnings goes, also what we got invested with Parson Smawley when the bulls ...
— The Dark Star • Robert W. Chambers
... Nice to Mentone, the lovely highway from Castellamare to Sorrento, or the road between Vietri and Amalfi, where the strange fantastic peaks lead you at last to the solitary and beautiful desert of Paestum, where Greece seems to await you entrenched in silence among the wild-flowers. And there, too, on the road to Tuscany, after the pleasant weariness of the way, which is so much longer than those others, some fragment of antiquity is to be the reward of your journey, though nothing so fine as the deserted ...
— Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa • Edward Hutton
... two soldiers, going with their arms to Parramatta, stopped on the road to fire at a mark. One of them, inconsiderately, placing himself behind the tree which was the mark, and presenting himself in the unfortunate moment of his companion's firing, received the ball in his thigh near the groin. He was brought to ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 • David Collins
... form. I have been so that I could not sleep for fear of them. They have always been on my track—on the road through the desert, across the mountains, at the port, on shipboard; they appeared again here in England, at the docks, at the hotel, in the streets; hunted, I tell you, till I have seemed to ...
— The Bag of Diamonds • George Manville Fenn


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