runway Orig. U.S.
(ˈrʌnweɪ)
Also run-way.
[f. run v.]
1. a. The customary track or run of an animal (esp. of deer) or a fish.
| 1833 C. F. Hoffman Winter in West (1835) I. 202 The numerous deer-runways,..and innumerable tracks of rackoons, wolves, and bears, showed us that we were upon a favourite hunting ground of the Pottawattamies. 1855 Knickerbocker XLV. 193 The sound of the rifle has by this time brought the other hunters from their run⁓ways. 1873 Forest & Stream I. 178/2 We crossed the runway where the deer and pack had passed. 1894 Outing XXIV. 186/2 Sometimes we followed a ‘runway’ or deer's path for a distance, and then it was mostly easy going. Ibid. 453/1 After a minute's rest, to let him settle in his runway, I made a cast. 1908 A. J. Dawson Finn x. 168 Reynard picked up the dead rabbit and..trotted leisurely down the run⁓way towards his own earth. 1948 A. L. Rand Mammals Eastern Rockies 45 Four of them [sc. species of shrews] are terrestrial animals, often making little runways through the moss. 1953 P. Provencher I live in Woods xii. 117 In winter the rabbit runway is easily distinguished in the snow. 1977 Sci. Amer. May 106/2 Rats in the laboratory have logged endless miles in runways, mazes and activity wheels. |
b. A place for fowls to run in.
| 1871 W. M. Lewis People's Pract. Poultry Bk. 8 The hennery should be placed in a warm, dry location..with runways ample to allow of plenty of exercise. 1886 Pall Mall G. 27 Aug. 14/1 The incubators, hatching houses, brooding houses and runways have a capacity to keep 5,000 eggs in process of hatching all the time. 1913 J. London Valley of Moon xiv. 459 A goodly portion was devoted to white-washed henhouses and wired runways wherein hundreds of chickens were to be seen. 1949 Sat. Even. Post 9 Apr. 59/2 He even had a plan for one in his desk; the runways were to be painted green outside and whitewashed inside. |
c. A running-path.
| 1889 Pall Mall G. 19 Jan. 7/1 The field [in baseball] consists of a continuous runway of clay-covered paths. |
2. a. Any artificial (sloping or horizontal) track or gangway made for convenience of passage or carriage;
spec. in
Theatr. use (see
quot. 1926); also in
Fashion, a raised gangway on which models parade when exhibiting clothes.
| 1883 E. W. Howe Country Town iv. 20 Pushing this into my wagon with the assistance of his wife, after we had first made a run-way of boards, I hauled him to Fairview. 1888 Scribner's Mag. Oct. 444 If there is a ‘runway’, which is an elevation like the rocky ascent in the second act of Die Walküre.., it is ‘built’ by the stage-carpenters. 1901 Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ xiii. 246 A runway from the hoist to the end of the building. 1912 ‘W. Lawton’ Boy Aviators' Flight for Fortune ix. 102 The rolling glide down the runway was made..and at last the bow of the Sea Eagle's hull struck the water. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 437/2 Runway, a platform built at stage level and extending part way down the center aisle of the theater. Used in burlesque and musical comedy for the presentation of chorus numbers. 1929 Variety 11 Sept. 54 Muggs still going for burlesque want that close-up of flesh which the runway provides or they won't give the teasers a tumble. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xii. 287 The solid glass desk looked like a burlesque runway. 1961 Sunday Times 3 Dec. 29/2 Advertising is the next fattener of bank accounts, then fashion photography and finally live modelling on the runways at fashion shows. 1971 C. Fick Danziger Transcript 95 Fourteen skinny models rehearsing on a runway. 1979 Tucson Mag. Mar. 12/3 Producer Spots Baxter's lifeless body stretched out on the runway of his great stage. |
b. A specially prepared surface on an airfield for the taking off and landing of aircraft.
| 1923 Aviation 8 Oct. 445/1 (caption) A wonderful landmark—Boston Airport with its T type runways. 1926 Nat. Geogr. Mag. Sept. 363/2 We got off the end of the runway at a terrific speed. 1930 Flight 7 Feb. 194/1 To make it usable for aircraft, cinders have been laid to form three runways and these are raised above the rest of the unprepared ground. 1943 Times 16 Dec. 3/4 In northern Burma the U.S. Air Forces destroyed runways and dumps and burned barrack areas. 1957 Economist 21 Sept. 922/2 The sprawling Tachikawa airfield on the northern fringes of Tokyo is regularly the scene of ‘anti-base’ demonstrations by Japanese who uproot boundary fences, plant flagpoles on the runways and skirmish with the police. 1977 Whitaker's Almanack 1978 572 There was an official death toll of 576 when two Boeing 747 jumbo jets..collided on the runway at Santa Cruz airport. |
3. A groove in which anything slides,
esp. one of the grooves in the casing of a sash-window.
| 1890 in Cent. Dict. 1900 R. Barr Unchanging East 309 Its runway was so smooth..that a man of ordinary strength could roll it backward and forward. |
4. The bed or channel in which a stream runs.
| 1874 B. F. Taylor World on Wheels ii. vii. 250 Like the dusty ‘run-ways’ of thy brooks, soft pulses have grown dry and dumb. 1879 in Webster Suppl. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 2 b)
runway aerodrome,
runway marker,
runway strip;
runway light, each of a series of lights marking the course of a runway.
| 1933 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 3 Detroit, where a purely runway aerodrome has been developed. |
| 1951 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) iii. 24 Runway lights, lights defining a runway to indicate the area of taking-off and landing. 1958 ‘Castle’ & ‘Hailey’ Flight into Danger xi. 154 Put out your runway lights, except zero-eight. 1976 ‘A. Hall’ Kobra Manifesto xv. 200 The flick-flick-flick of the runway lights, falling away. |
| 1939 Air Ann. Brit. Empire 65 A new metal runway marker has been introduced in order to improve the safety of aeroplane landings. |
| 1937 Sun (Baltimore) 21 Apr. 9/6 The field should be equipped with boundary and beacon lights and the area of the runway strips outside of the paved portion should be sod. |
Hence
ˈrunwayed a., provided with a runway; consisting of runways.
| 1948 Hansard Commons 15 Mar. 1806 Two-fifths of a runwayed airfield is covered with concrete runways. 1949 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LIII. 903/1 Large grass areas on runwayed aerodromes are a liability in upkeep, except insofar as grass drying is a revenue-earning aspect. |