▪ I. path, n.1
(pɑːθ, pæθ)
Pl. paths (pɑːθs, pæθs, pɑːðz). Forms: 1 (paat), pæþ, (pl. paþas), 1–4 paþ, 3 pl. pæðes, peðes; 4– path (4–5 paþþe, 4–6 Sc. peth, (5 pethth, 6 paith), 4–7 pathe, 5 payth, 6 patth, -e).
[A Com. WGer. word: OE. pæþ corresponds to OFris. path, pad (WFris. paed, EFris. pad, path, pat, Satl. pad, Wang. path), OLG. pad, MDu., MLG. pat (pad-), Du., LG. pad, OHG. phad, phath, pfad, fad, MHG. phad, phat, pfat, Ger. pfad:—WGer. paþ; not in ON. nor Goth. The forms show that the word must have been in WGer. before the Christian era. Ulterior origin uncertain.
WGer. paþ has naturally been compared with Gr. πάτος ‘trodden or beaten way’, and with Zend paþ (paþan, panþan) ‘way’; but to these it could be related only as a borrowed term, which with a word of such a sense is most unlikely. On the other hand, the occurrence of original initial p in Teutonic is uncertain; if this is an example, paþ would correspond to pre-Teut. bat-, which has suggested the root of L. batuĕre to beat.]
1. a. A way beaten or trodden by the feet of men or beasts; a track formed incidentally by passage between places, rather than expressly planned and constructed to accomodate traffic; a narrow unmade and (usually) unenclosed way across the open country, through woods or fields, over a mountain, etc.; a footway or footpath, as opposed to a road for vehicles; hence applied also to a walk made for foot-passengers, in a garden, park, wood, or the like. Sometimes said more vaguely of any way or road: cf. sense 3.
| c 700 Kentish Charter of Wihtred in O.E.T. 428 Terminos, id est, bereueᵹ et meᵹuuines paeð et stretleᵹ. c 725 Corpus Gloss. 429 (O.E.T.) Callis paat. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 146/35, 36 Semita, manna pað. Callis, deora pað. 1045 Charter of Eadweard in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 98 Andlang ðaes wuduweᵹes on ðone grene pað; of ðam paðe on ðane greatan þorn. c 1205 Lay. 1120 Leode nere þar nane ne wepmen ne wifmen bute westiᵹe pæðes [c 1275 bote weste paþes]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8432 Of þe Walsche, he tok to companies, Paþes to waite, & stretes, & styes. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. Prol., As diuerse pathes leden diuerse folke the rihte wey to Roome. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 114 He thought yt was a longe waye to the pathes end. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. vii. 26 The horsemen..fast forth sprentis to weil beknawin pethis. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 11 That path they take that beaten seemd most bare. 1634 Milton Comus 37 Their way Lies through the perplex't paths of this drear Wood. 1750 Gray Elegy xxix, Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ii, Paths can't be made without feet. 1837 Lytton E. Maltrav. i. i, There is no path across it that I can discern. |
b. A track specially laid for foot or cycle racing.
c. A track constructed for some part of machinery to run upon.
| 1883 [see cinder-path s.v. cinder n. 7]. 1887 Times 31 Oct. 9 H. has achieved many excellent performances on the cinder-path. 1888 Daily News 16 July 3/1 The turret paths of the Inflexible... These paths—that is, the circular planes on which the rollers for the revolving of the turrets travel—are of cast iron. 1901 Oxford Mag. 24 Apr. 291/1 The path [for foot-racing]..after the recent frosts was loose and crumbling. |
d. Physiol. = pathway 2 a.
| 1881 A. L. Ranney Appl. Anat. Nervous Syst. iii. 299 It is as certainly proved that the motor impulses travel along the anterior half of the spinal cord, while the path of sensory impressions is intimately associated with the posterior half. 1902 H. E. Santee Anat. Brain & Spinal Cord (ed. 2) x. 190 The sensory paths conduct two varieties of impulse. Ibid. 195 There are two auditory paths, the Cochlear and the Vestibular. 1942 F. A. Mettler Neuroanat. x. 201 There are thus two paths for delicate tactile sensations: a long, crossed path and an uncrossed one. 1950 Physiol. Rev. XXX. 461 An extrapyramidal path..appears to diverge from the cortico-spinal tract in the pons. |
e. Biochem. A metabolic pathway (
pathway 2 b).
| 1909 A. E. Garrod Inborn Errors Metabolism i. 7 This conception of the permanency of the metabolic paths is no new one. 1927 M. Bodansky Introd. Physiol. Chem. xi. 270 The possible paths of metabolism of this amino acid are the following. 1935 C. F. & G. T. Cori in Harrow & Sherwin Textbk. Biochem. xx. 553 With the enzyme systems existing in muscle it seems more probable..that cleavage products of glycogen are led into the lactic acid path. |
f. A schedule which is allotted to or is available to an individual train over a given route.
| 1961 Guardian 28 Apr. 30/4 The code..will indicate the class of train..and the number of its ‘path’ on operational timing. 1971 D. J. Smith Discovering Railwayana x. 60 Train path, vacant line in the timetable which may be used by an extra train. 1977 Modern Railways Dec. 463/3 Through freight traffic can be a problem too, some of these trains have paths at the busiest times. |
2. a. In Old Northumbrian used to render L.
vallis vale, dene, and
chaos abyss, gap; hence,
north. dial., A hollow or deep cutting in a road. Locally pronounced, and often written,
peth.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke iii. 5 Eᵹhuelc pæð vel dene [vallis] ᵹefylled bið. Ibid. xvi. 26 Bituih iuih & usih dene vel pæð [chaos] micel ᵹefæstnad is. 1548 Patten Exped. Scotl. B ij, We marched an viii. mile til we came to a place called y⊇ Peaths [i.e. Cockburnspath]. It is a valey..a xx. skore [yards] brode from banke to banke aboue... So stepe be these bankes on eyther syde and depe to the bottom [etc.]. 1855 N. & Q. 1st ser. XII. 74, I was told that a fatal accident had occurred to a person ‘going down the peth’, a hollow wooded part of the road [near Durham]. 1904 J. T. Fowler in Let., Two of the main roads leading into and out of Durham are in cuttings through hills and are called respectively ‘Crossgate Peth,’ or ‘The Peth’,..and ‘Shincliffe Peth’. |
b. In
Sc. and
north. Eng., A steep road or path; a steep ascent or hill on a road.
(Common name of a steep ascent in a road, and hence occurring in many names of places and of steep streets or lanes in towns, in Scotland, Northumberland, Durham, etc.)
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xviii. 366 Ane craggy bra..And a gret peth wp for to gang. 1496 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 297 To draw the gunnis in peththis and myris. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. x. 68 Him self ascendis the hie band of the hyll..Tharfor a prattik of weir devys will I, And ly at wait in quyet embuschment At athir pethis hed or secrete went. [1590 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 55 A little path, that was both steepe and long.] 1808 Jamieson s.v. Peth, A peth is a road up a steep brae, but is not necessarily to be understood to be a narrow or foot-path. On the contrary..the most of peths are on public roads, as Kirkliston peth on the high⁓way between Edinburgh and Linlithgow; [the Peth and Peth-head near Kirkcaldy, etc.] |
3. a. The way, course, or line along which a person or thing moves, passes, or travels (not necessarily a made or marked way, but more usually the imaginary line described or indicated by the moving body).
| a 1000 Cædmon's Exod. 487 Ne mihton forhabban helpendra pað, merestreames mod. 1388 Wyclif Ps. viii. 9 The..fischis of the see that passen bi the paþis of the see. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxvi[i]. 19 Thy waye was in the see, and thy pathes in the greate waters. 1680 Flamsteed Doctr. Sphere i. iii. 6 Every..Point on the Globe..describes a Circle about its Axis, which I call the Path of the Vertex. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xiv, The populace..follow to the palace in his path. 1879 Sir R. Ball Mechanics 138 The curved path in which the ball will move. |
b. Math. A continuous mapping of a real interval into a space.
| 1939 M. H. A. Newman Elem. Topology of Plane Sets of Points vi. 143 Paths and loops are not merely sets of points. 1956 E. M. Patterson Topology iv. 76 A path in a topological space T is a continuous mapping α: C→T of the space C, that is the set of real numbers u satisfying 0{slle}u{slle}1 with the usual topology, into T. 1974 L. Loomis Calculus xi. 437 A parametric representation of a curve is often called a path. Sometimes we call the curve itself a path. |
4. fig. A course of action or procedure, line of conduct, way of behaviour; less commonly, a course or line of thought, argument, or the like.
| a 900 Ags. Ps. (Th.) xxiv. 3 [xxv. 4] ᵹedo me þine weᵹas cuðe, and lær me þine paðas. c 1070 O.E. Chron. an. 1067 (MS. D) Forþan þe heo sceolde..þone kyng ᵹerihtan of þam dweliandan pæðe. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 131 Godes paðes ben ure gode dedes..þe us shule leden to eche liue. c 1430 Lydg. Reas. & Sens. 2213, I shal folwen and pursywe Your pathis pleynly and doctryne. 1539 Bible (Great) Ps. xvi. 11 Thou shalt shewe me y⊇ path of lyfe. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 97 The paithis of the Iust, God dois direct. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xix. 340 Seldome two successive Kings tread in the same path. 1750 Gray Elegy ix, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 1881 Jowett Thucyd. I. 29 The true path of expediency is the path of right. |
5. Comb., as
path-deep adj. (
deep a. 2),
path-side,
path-walker;
path-breaker, [
tr. G.
bahnbrecher], one who or something which breaks open a path; a pioneer; so
path-breaking adj. [G.
bahnbrechend];
path-cleaver, one who cleaves or cuts a path,
e.g. through a forest;
fig. one who strikes out a new track, a pioneer;
path difference Physics, difference in path length;
pathfarer [after
wayfarer], a traveller along a path;
path-finder, (
a) one who discovers a path or way, an explorer; also
fig.; (
b) an aircraft or its pilot sent ahead of bombing aircraft to locate and mark out the target for attack;
path-finding, the state of being a path-finder; also
attrib.;
† path-fly: see
quots.;
path-hewer = path-cleaver;
path length Physics, the length of the path followed by a light ray, sound wave, or the like (in the case of light
usu. after allowing for the retarding effect of the medium:
cf. optical path s.v. optical a. 6);
path-master N. Amer. (see
quot. 1869);
path-racer, a bicycle made for racing upon a prepared path or track; so
path-racing.
| 1905 Daily Chron. 15 Nov. 4/3 A gentle *path-breaker in her chosen..field of the delineation of child life and child millinery. 1913 Q. Rev. Oct. 407 The late Frederic Seebohm's ‘English Village Community’ was literally a path-breaker. |
| 1914 R. M. Jones Spiritual Reformers 16th & 17th Cent. iv. 46 A man of heroic spirit and a *path-breaking genius. 1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Apr. 466/3 Not an epoch-making or path-breaking book. 1978 Sci. Amer. Feb. 131/3 His words apply equally well to other path-breaking discoveries in physics. |
| 1896 Godey's Mag. (U.S.) Apr. 360/1 The indefatigable *path-cleaver [Fremont] who crossed mountains even the Indians believed impassable. |
| 1929 J. K. Robertson Introd. Physical Optics ix. 186 If the thickness of the film gradually increases, the *path difference between..pairs of interfering rays will do so also and consequently the face of the film will be alternately light and dark. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio i. 28 (caption) The effective path difference (i.e. the extra distance travelled by the [sound] wave to reach the back of the ribbon 1) is equivalent to the distance D round the magnet pole⁓piece 2. |
| 1880 G. Meredith Tragic Com. vi. (1892) 88 One who knew how to outstrip *path⁓farers. |
| 1840 J. F. Cooper (title) The *Pathfinder. 1866 Harper's Mag. June 28/1 The great Path⁓finder, unfortunately for himself, took the wrong path. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. ii. 32 A great forerunner among the pathfinders across the continent. 1898 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 408 Philosophers are after all like poets. They are path-finders. 1932 C. Fuller Louis Trigardt's Trek 18 These were the ‘pathfinders’ of the greater movement that followed in their wake. 1943 Times 25 Nov. 4/4 Red tracer bullets were continually fired from the ground at the pathfinders' flares. 1944 [see marker 3 c]. 1946 R.A.F. Jrnl. May 168 For the crews of Bomber Command's Pathfinder Force it was all a question of time. 1959 R. Collier City that wouldn't Die i. 22 As pathfinders their function was to spotlight the target..with thousands of chandelier flares and incendiary bombs. 1973 Nature 2 Mar. 67/1 He was an inventor and an innovator, a path-finder and prognosticator. 1977 10 June 16/3 A former wartime Path⁓finder with DFC and Bar. |
| 1888 Pall Mall G. 30 Aug. 14/1 The higher capacities of the mountaineer, the instinct of *path-finding. 1943 Jane's All World's Aircraft 1942 p. iv/2 The success..was contributed to by the introduction of the system of path-finding. 1944 Living off Land iv. 85 Accurate path⁓finding in the bush..tests your common sense. 1948 H. Brighouse in J. Marriott Best One-Act Plays 1946–47 145 Well, pathfinding for Bomber Command..so a bit of marine navigation wasn't beyond me. 1961 Listener 30 Nov. 908/1 The development of radio aids and path⁓finding techniques was proceeding. 1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xviii. 148 KGr 100's pathfinding role. |
| 1634 Moufet Insect. Theat. i. xii. 75 In semitis..invenitur..unde ab Anglis vocatur The gray *path flye. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Path-fly, the name given by us to the fly called in Latin humisuga; it is found in foot-paths, and supposed to live by sucking the ground. |
| 1877 Tyndall Fragm. Sc., Sc. & Man, Two great *Path-hewers, as the Germans call them. |
| 1949 S. Silver Microwave Antenna iv. 123 Fermat's principle: The optical ray or rays from a source at a point P1 to a point of observation P2 is the curve along which the optical *path length is stationary with respect to infinitesimal variations of path. 1956 Nature 10 Mar. 469/1 The summary of section A contains a useful review..of resonance and pulse velocity tests... An important omission..is mention of the practical difficulty of measuring path-lengths sufficiently accurately in testing insitu concrete structures by the pulse velocity method. 1971 New Scientist 3 June 566/1 Long path-length spectroscopy is made plausible by the combination of high intensity and directionality. |
| 1799 Upper Canada Gaz. (York, Ontario) 29 June 3/2 The public are much indebted to Mr. John McDougal, who was appointed one of the *path-masters at the last town meeting, for his great assiduity and care in getting the streets cleared of the many and dangerous (especially at night) constructions therein. 1869 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1868 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 348 The immediate supervision of construction and repairs is generally under the direction of local ‘road supervisors’, or ‘path masters’, as they are termed in some districts. 1959 Maclean's Mag. 20 June 83/2 The name was changed about 40 years ago because Gottlieb Watts, town path⁓master, could not spell it. 1968 E. S. Russenholt Heart of Continent iv. xi. 206 The Department of Agriculture orders that pathmasters cut weedy grain, and have the work charged to landowners. |
| 1896 Westm. Gaz. 21 Nov. 7/2 His prettiest machine being a fine *path-racer. |
| a 1862 Thoreau Yankee in Canada iii. (1866) 42 A little one-story chapel-like building..close to the *path⁓side. |
| 1887 Century Mag. Sept. 704/1 The *path-walker is..plugging the smallest holes with sod... In ordinary times each walker has a stretch of fourteen miles to watch. |
▪ II. † path, v. Obs. [OE. pæþþan, pęþþan, f. pæþ, path n.1: cf. MLG. pedden to tread. But the vb. may have been formed anew in ME. and 16th c.: cf. MHG. pfaden to make a path.] 1. trans. To go upon or along, to ‘tread’ (a way, etc.).
lit. or
fig.| a 1000 Riddles lxxi. 10 Ic..mearcpaðas Walas træd, moras pæðde. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxxi. 10 Sume fotum twam foldan peðþaþ, sume fierfete. 1577 Whetstone Life Gascoigne xiv, I left this vaine to path the vertuous waies. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. xiv. 91 Pathing young Henries unadvised wayes. 1612 ― Poly-olb. ii. 24 Where, from the neighbouring hills her passage Wey doth path. 1728 Ramsay Robt., Richy, & Sandy 32 My tup that bears the bell And paths the snaw. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. v. 48 The dales disclose Their meadows path'd with files of savage foes. |
2. To tread, beat down by treading, as a path; usually
fig.| 1642 Rogers Naaman 423 [They] become more pathed in their sinnes by much beating upon. a 1653 Binning Serm. (1845) 138 They choose the way that is best pathed and trodden. 1765 J. Brown Chr. Jrnl. (1814) 287 What a mercy for weak and halt me that the way is here pathed. |
3. intr. To go in or as in a path; to pursue one's course. Also
refl. in same sense.
| 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep., Rosamond to Hen. II Notes, Poems (1605) 5 This Riuer did so strangely path it selfe, that the foote seemed to touch the head. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 83 For if thou path thy natiue semblance on, Not Erebus it selfe were dimme enough, To hide thee from preuention. |
4. trans. To pave. (Perh.
prop. pathe.)
[
App. either a simple phonetic substitution of
ð for
v; or from the association of a
path with
paving; or due to the two causes combined.
Cf. pathing,
pathment.]
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxxi. 307 The stretes also ben pathed of the same stones [Roxb. xxxiv. 152 Þe stretez er paued, Fr. les rues sount bien paues de tiels pierres]. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. v. 285 A strete whiche was pathed with stoon. c 1475 Crabhouse Reg. (1889) 60 The Prioresse..set vp the ymagis and pathed the chirche and the quere. 1507 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 411 To the masons of Linlithqw that pathit the chapell. 1513 Douglas æneis i. vii. 9 The large stretes pathit by and by. |