path
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
graph-theory
lifestyle
mathematics
natural-sciences
paganism
physical-sciences
rail-transport
railways
religion
sciences
topology
transport
video-games
Etymology: From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ (“path, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (“path”). The Proto-Germanic term is possibly borrowed from Iranian, from Proto-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s, from the root *pent- (“to pass”), but this is disputed.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Paad, Pad (“path”), West Frisian paad (“path”), Dutch pad (“path”), German Pfad (“path”), German Low German Padd (“path”), Luxembourgish Pad (“path”). Indo-Iranian cognates could be Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (paṇtā̊, “way”), Old Persian 𐎱𐎰 (p-θ /⁠paθi⁠/), Hindi पथ (path), Sanskrit पन्था (panthā, “path”). See also English find. Doublet of panth.
Inflected forms:
form: paths
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: paths
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: pathing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: pathed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: pathed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
pos: noun
examples: Yet ere to to-morrow's ſun ſhall ſhew his head, / The dewy paths of meadows we will tread, / For crowns and chaplets to adorn thy head.
I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
gloss: A course taken.
pos: noun
examples: the path of a meteor, of a caravan, or of a storm
Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.
gloss: A metaphorical course or route; progress.
pos: noun
examples: ⁠But thou and I have shaken hands,
⁠Till growing winters lay me low;
⁠My paths are in the fields I know,
And thine in undiscover’d lands.
As I explored the possibility of a library science path, having previously been employed in libraries during my school career and afterwards, I decided that I needed to actually experience work in a library setting full time again […]
gloss: A method or direction of proceeding.
pos: noun
examples: All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
gloss: A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
pos: noun
gloss: A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL.
pos: noun
examples: Use the network path \\Marketing\Files to find the documents you need.
gloss: A sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
pos: noun
gloss: A continuous map f from the unit interval I=[0,1] to a topological space X.
pos: noun
gloss: A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.
pos: noun
examples: "Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force.
... while the planned hourly fast 'Connect' service from Middlesbrough to Newcastle has been postponed indefinitely due to problems in finding paths for it on the East Coast main line.
Echoing McNaughton's comments in 2009, it adds: "The WCML has exhausted its available train paths and no extra services could be run without further significant investment to enhance current infrastructure or build a new line.
gloss: To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: His ghoſtly counſells onely doe aduiſe, / The meanes hovv Langlies progenie may riſe, / Pathing young Henries vnaduiſed vvaies, / A Duke of Yorke from Cambridge houſe to raiſe, […]
gloss: To navigate through a file system directory tree (to a desired file or folder).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Next, you need to path to the location of the executable and run it from there.
gloss: To pathfind.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Synonyms: trail
Derived words: airpath
basepath
bridlepath
bridle-path
build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door
by-path
cart path
cess path
cowpath
cross someone's path
cyberpath
drag path
edgepath
eigenpath
flarepath
flowpath
garden-path
garden path sentence
garden-path sentence
halterpath
heelpath
hotpath
hyperpath
keypath
lead someone down the garden path, lead someone up the garden path
lifepath
lightpath
moonpath
multipath
null path length
off the beaten path
on-path attack
path analysis
pathbreaker
pathbreaking
path cascade
path-connected
path dependence
path dependency
pather
pathfind
pathfinder
pathfinding
pathful
path integral formalism
pathion
path length
pathless
pathlet
pathlike
pathline
path loss
pathmaker
pathmaster
pathname
path of least resistance
path of totality
path rush
pathside
path tracer
path tracing
path traversal
pathway
pathwidth
pathwise
pathworking
racepath
scanpath
sidepath
stormpath
superpath
thought-path
thought path
toolpath
towpath
trekpath
warpath
whale-path
which-path information
Translations: