▪ I. avenue, n.
(ˈævɪnjuː)
Also 7 advenue, avenew(e, avennue.
[a. F. avenue n. from fem. pa. pple. of avenir:—L. advenīre, f. ad to + venīre to come (after which spelt advenue by some in 16–17th c.). Occas., in 18th c., accented aˈvenue.]
† 1. The action of coming to; approach. Obs.
| 1639 J. Saltmarsh Pract. Policie 23 The first heate you raise by your avenues and addresses will coole. |
2. gen. A way of access or approach; a passage or path of entrance or exit. (Formerly a regular military term.) Now chiefly fig.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxxv. I. 917 Hermeum, where is the advenue [transitus] out of Bœotia into the Iland of Eubœa. a 1672 Wood Life (1848) 26 Col. Legge..with the reere guarded the towne and avenews. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1500 With holy water, like a sluice To overflow all avenues. 1800 Stuart in Wellesley Disp. (1877) 577 It becomes incumbent on us to watch..this avenue to India. 1921 Wodehouse Indiscr. Archie i. 12 You did not irremediably close all avenues to a peaceful settlement. 1926 Sat. Rev. 16 Oct. 446/2 He..explores every avenue which may lead him to a point of vantage whence to view his life in its new meaning. 1927 Rev. Eng. Stud. Oct. 432 Our politicians are said to deal with dominant issues and to explore avenues. |
| fig. 1603 Holland Plutarch 160, I have prevented thee (ô Fortune) I have stopped up all thy avenewes. 1655 Lestrange Chas. I, 8 To whom we dare not think the advenue's of eternal blessednesse precluded. c 1742 C. Wesley in Southey Wesley (1846) I. xiii. 370 note, Guard each avenue to thy flutt'ring heart, And act the sister's and the Christian's part. 1876 Green Short Hist. ix. §9. 697 To Scotland the Union opened up new avenues of wealth. |
3. The chief approach to a country-house, usually bordered by trees; hence, any broad roadway bordered or marked by trees or other objects at regular intervals. Sometimes used of the trees alone, with tacit disregard of the road they overshadow.
(The current literal sense, app. introduced by Evelyn.)
| 1654 Evelyn Diary 25 Aug., The avenue was vngraceful. 1664 ― Sylva Advt., That this may yet be no prejudice to the meaner capacities let them read for avenue, the principal walk to the front of the house, or seat. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 321 Avenues, Ways or Passages, or Rows or Walks of Trees. 1707 Farquhar Beaux' Strat. iv. i, Drawn by the Appearance of your handsome House..and walking up the Avenue. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 111 Arthur Donnithorne passed under an avenue of limes and beeches. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. iv. 74 The avenue of sphinxes leading to the huge gateway. |
4. A fine wide street. (Used esp. in U.S.)
| 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 209 They hardly look like streets at all, but, nevertheless have names printed on the corners, just as if they were stately avenues. a 1885 Mod. Northumberland Avenue leading to the Thames Embankment. |
5. The ambulacrum or double row of pores for the protrusion of the tube-feet in sea-urchins.
| 1841 E. Forbes Brit. Starfish 152 There are five pairs of avenues; they run from mouth to anus. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life 141 Along the medial line of each radial avenue. |
▪ II. ˈavenue, v.
[f. prec. n.]
To make into an avenue; to form avenues in; to line.
| 1865 Cornh. Mag. Aug. 224 The too-fragrant exotics which avenue its lengths. |