way

plural ways · alternative obsolete waye · alternative obsolete waie

1. To do with a place or places.
   1. A road, a direction, a (physical or conceptual) path from one place to another.

      We lied our way through the debriefing.

      5 more examples

      Do you know the way to the airport?  Come this way and I'll show you a shortcut.

      The way seems difficult, and steep to scale.

      1667, John Milton, “Book II”, 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

      the season and ways very improper for his Majesty's forces to march so great a distance

      1688 November 14 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 5 November 1688]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC

      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

      I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn't paid any attention to afore.

      1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   2. A means to enter or leave a place.

      We got into the cinema through the back way.

      1 more example

      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

   3. A roughly-defined geographical area.

      If you're ever 'round this way, come over and visit me.

   4. Distance in general

      It's a long way from here.

      3 more examples

      Twenty miles surely is a long way to walk.

      I was surprised when I managed to run the whole way.

      "It's a long way to Tipperary, / it's a long way to go." [It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, a marching and music hall song by Jack Judge and Henry "Harry" James Williams, popularized especially by British troops in World War One]

2. A method or manner of doing something; a mannerism.

   He's finally seen the error of his ways.

   5 more examples

   You're going about it the wrong way.  He's known for his quirky ways.  I don't like the way she looks at me.

   “[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh.[…]If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes ; love of the people, and that sort of guff.”

   1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

   She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   […]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past.

   1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

   An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.

   2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)

   1. usuallyA set of values and customs associated with and seen as central to the identity of a group of people.
3. A state or condition

   He's in a bad way.

   1 more example

   When I returned home, I found my house and belongings in a most terrible way.

4. Personal interaction.
   1. headingPossibility (usually in the phrases ‘any way’ and ‘no way’).

      There's no way I'm going to clean up after you.

   2. headingDetermined course; resolved mode of action or conduct.

      My little sister always whines until she gets her way.

5. GermaniclifestyleA tradition within the modern pagan faith of Heathenry, dedication to a specific deity or craft, Way of wyrd, Way of runes, Way of Thor etc.

   To walk the Way of the Runes, you must experience the runes as they manifest both in the part of Midgard that lies outside yourself and the worlds within. (Diana Paxson)

6. uncountablenauticalSpeed, progress, momentum.

   Ten minutes into the run Tang slowed, Welch calling out her speed as she lost way.

   1977, Richard O'Kane, Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, Ballantine Books, published 2003, page 343

   1 more example

   Immediately afterwards, a quick and eager short dark man came into the room with so much way upon him that he was within a foot of Clennam before he could stop.

   1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC

7. A degree, an amount, a sense.

   In a significant way, crocodiles and alligators are similar.

   1 more example

   That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

8. USAs the head of an interjectory clause; followed by an infinitive starting with “to”; As the head of an interjectory clause; followed by an infinitive starting with “to”Acknowledges that a task has been done well, chiefly in expressions of sarcastic congratulation.

   Way to ruin the moment, guys.

   3 more examples

   Jimmy leaned forward holding his ear, the personification of naïveté, looking as young as a baby with his oh-so-innocent face. “Oh, way to get us busted, Jimmy,” Curt hissed under his breath.

   2001, Joshua Nedelman, The Garden of Eastern, page 36

   Oh, way to start a rumor, Hope. Angel glared the silent statement at her sister.

   2009, Linda Winfree, Fall in Me, page 165

   "Oh, way to care about how I feel." His voice took on an exaggerated “Valley Girl” tone.

   2012, Nancy Manther, A Charmed Life

9. pluralplural onlyThe timbers of shipyard stocks that slope into the water and along which a ship or large boat is launched.

   By the time the Mauretania was ready for launching a total weight of 16,800 tons was standing in the berth, and this represented the heaviest weight that had ever been sent down the ways up to that time.

   1912, Fredrick A. Talbot, Steamship Conquest of the World, page 36

10. pluralusuallyA guiding surface on the bed of a planer, lathe, etc. along which a table or carriage moves; usually in pairs.

alternative obsolete waye · alternative obsolete waie

1. slangYes; it is true; it is possible.

   We repeated this ritual of “no way - way, no way - way” over the years.

   2011, William Schwenn, Dogs of Meadowbrook

   1 more example

   - We searched the vehicle. It was clean, so we did the body cavity searches. - No way. - Way!

   1992, Wayne's World (film)

   Synonyms: yes way

present singular third person ways · participle present waying · participle past wayed · past wayed · alternative obsolete waye · alternative obsolete waie

1. obsoleteTo travel.

   on a time as they together way'd, / He made him open chalenge[…].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii

   1 more example

   Laötze says, “The Name that can be named is not the Eternal Name. The Way that can be wayed, is not the Eternal Way.” Infinite wisdom is beyond the human power to understand.

   1919, Gotō Shinpei, "Japanese Statesman on Christian Missions", The Missionary Review, Volume 42, p. 660

alternative dated 'way · alternative dated ’way

1. informalnot comparableFar.

   He kicked the ball way up.

   4 more examples

   I used to live way over there.

   The farmhouse is way down the bottom of the hill.

   A number of Dundee businessmen commuted across the bridge from their homes in Wormit, and some became concerned at the speeds that trains were crossing the bridge. Ex-Dundee Provost William Robertson timed one train at 43mph, way in excess of the 25mph speed limit.

   2020 September 23, Paul Bigland, “The tragic tale of the Tay Bridge disaster”, in Rail, page 81

   The initial exposure of aluminum, regardless of alloy, will form a thin oxide film on the surface the second it is exposed. This film continues to grow and, after a few days of exposure, the growth slows way down.

   2020, L. William Zahner, “Corrosion Characteristics”, in Aluminum Surfaces: a Guide to Alloys, Finishes, Fabrication and Maintenance in Architecture and Art, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 287

2. informalnot comparableMuch, far, by a great degree.

   I'm way too tired to do that.

   3 more examples

   I'm a way better singer than Emma.

   It turns out that's way more gain than you need for a keyboard, but you don't have to use all of it to benefit from the sonic characteristics.

   2006, Keyboard, volume 32, numbers 1-6, page 132

   Porcine dermal collagen is similar to human dermal collagen biochemically. In mouse skin, the dermis is once again way thinner than in humans.

   2023 April 18 (last accessed), “Top differences between human and animal skin”, in Genoskin

   Synonyms: far, much, a lot, loads

3. not comparableslangVery.

   I'm way tired.

   2 more examples

   String theory is way cool, except for the math.

   With all the way cool boys out there, what if you don't recognize them because you don't know what to look for? Or, what if you have a chance to pick a perfect Prince and you end up with a yucky Frog instead?

   2005, Erika V. Shearin Karres, Crushes, Flirts, & Friends: A Real Girl's Guide to Boy Smarts, page 16

   Synonyms: so, very, so much

alternative dated 'way · alternative dated ’way

1. attributiveinformalnot comparableExtreme, far

   Sitting in the way back of the bus

   2 more examples

   some day in the way future me and @HowdyDuda are gonna have to come for a visit…

   2022 August 19, @DazzlerAOA, Twitter

   This will be a funny one with Snow’s 2 1st rounders going to be at the way bottom while 2 of his mid round picks will be towards the very top.

   2023 July 10, @JLoading06, Twitter

plural ways · alternative dated 'way · alternative dated ’way

1. obsoleteartsA seventeenth-century unit of Rhenish glass containing 60 bunches.

   Synonyms: web

plural ways

1. The letter for the w sound in Pitman shorthand.

1. ChristianityChristianity.

   But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

   1946, The Bible, Revised Standard Version, Acts 9:1-2

2. Chinesehuman sciencesSynonym of Tao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way in which to live one's life.

   Synonyms: Tao

3. abbreviationclippingSussexClipping of South Downs Way.

   We're walking along the Way now.

1. A surname.
2. An unincorporated community in Madison County, Mississippi, United States.
3. A hamlet in Minster parish, Thanet district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR3265).