pavement

plural pavements

1. uncountableusuallychemistryA paved surface; a hard covering on the ground.First known use 13th c.

   The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold.

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

2. CanadaIrelandMid AtlanticSouth AfricaUKUScountableusuallyA paved path, for the use of pedestrians, located at the side of a road.First known use 18th c.

   2 more examples

   It was a cold and rainy afternoon as Ethel Churchill sat at the window of their new abode, a house in one of the streets leading from the Strand to the river. It was the day after their arrival, and nothing could well be more gloomy than the view: the pavement was wet, and a yellow mist obscured every object,...

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Meeting of Old Friends”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 194

   Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Synonyms: sidewalk, footpath, trottoir

3. CanadaUSuncountableusuallyA paving (paved part) of a road or other thoroughfare; the roadway or road surface.First known use 13th c.

   89.2 million tons of RAP are used annually in new asphalt pavement construction in the United States.

   (Can we date this quote?), “RAP Benefits for Pavement Owners”, in National Asphalt Pavement Association, archived from the original on 21 Mar 2025, page 1

   2 more examples

   [H]e attempted to recover his importance, by haranguing upon the Roman highways, when Mr. Jolter desired the company to take notice of the fine pavement upon which they travelled from Paris into Flanders […].

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

   The antirunway munitions are specifically designed to cause maximum destruction to airfield pavements.

   1991, Airpower Journal 1911, page 45

4. CanadaUSuncountableusuallyThe paved part of an area other than a road or sidewalk, such as a cobblestone plaza, asphalt schoolyard or playground, or parking lot.
5. uncountableusuallyInterior flooring, especially when of stone, of large buildings.

   ...that took them to a brief rise of marble stairs that should've put them on the third-and-a-halfth floor if it'd been anywhere but Hogwarts, and then it was back to tiled stone pavement again, and...

   2012, Eliezer Yudkowsky, chapter 71, in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

   1. uncountableusuallyarchitectureThe interior flooring of a church sanctuary, between the communion rail and the altar.First known use 19th c.