Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Way \Way\, n. [OE. wey, way, AS. weg; akin to OS., D., OHG., &
G. weg, Icel. vegr, Sw. v["a]g, Dan. vei, Goth. wigs, L. via,
and AS. wegan to move, L. vehere to carry, Skr. vah.
[root]136. Cf. {Convex}, {Inveigh}, {Vehicle}, {Vex}, {Via},
{Voyage}, {Wag}, {Wagon}, {Wee}, {Weigh}.]
1. That by, upon, or along, which one passes or processes;
opportunity or room to pass; place of passing; passage;
road, street, track, or path of any kind; as, they built a
way to the mine. ``To find the way to heaven.'' --Shak.
I shall him seek by way and eke by street.
--Chaucer.
The way seems difficult, and steep to scale.
--Milton.
The season and ways were very improper for his
majesty's forces to march so great a distance.
--Evelyn.
2. Length of space; distance; interval; as, a great way; a
long way.
And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began
to fail. --Longfellow.
3. A moving; passage; procession; journey.
I prythee, now, lead the way. --Shak.
4. Course or direction of motion or process; tendency of
action; advance.
If that way be your walk, you have not far.
--Milton.
And let eternal justice take the way. --Dryden.
5. The means by which anything is reached, or anything is
accomplished; scheme; device; plan.
My best way is to creep under his gaberdine. --Shak.
By noble ways we conquest will prepare. --Dryden.
What impious ways my wishes took! --Prior.
6. Manner; method; mode; fashion; style; as, the way of
expressing one's ideas.
7. Regular course; habitual method of life or action; plan of
conduct; mode of dealing. ``Having lost the way of
nobleness.'' --Sir. P. Sidney.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
are peace. --Prov. iii.
17.
When men lived in a grander way. --Longfellow.
8. Sphere or scope of observation. --Jer. Taylor.
The public ministers that fell in my way. --Sir W.
Temple.
9. Determined course; resolved mode of action or conduct; as,
to have one's way.
10. (Naut.)
(a) Progress; as, a ship has way.
(b) pl. The timbers on which a ship is launched.
11. pl. (Mach.) The longitudinal guides, or guiding surfaces,
on the bed of a planer, lathe, or the like, along which a
table or carriage moves.
12. (Law) Right of way. See below.
{By the way}, in passing; apropos; aside; apart from, though
connected with, the main object or subject of discourse.
{By way of}, for the purpose of; as being; in character of.
{Covert way}. (Fort.) See {Covered way}, under {Covered}.
{In the family way}. See under {Family}.
{In the way}, so as to meet, fall in with, obstruct, hinder,
etc.
{In the way with}, traveling or going with; meeting or being
with; in the presence of.
{Milky way}. (Astron.) See {Galaxy}, 1.
{No way}, {No ways}. See {Noway}, {Noways}, in the
Vocabulary.
{On the way}, traveling or going; hence, in process;
advancing toward completion; as, on the way to this
country; on the way to success.
{Out of the way}. See under {Out}.
{Right of way} (Law), a right of private passage over
another's ground. It may arise either by grant or
prescription. It may be attached to a house, entry, gate,
well, or city lot, as well as to a country farm. --Kent.
{To be under way}, or {To have way} (Naut.), to be in motion,
as when a ship begins to move.
{To give way}. See under {Give}.
{To go one's way}, or {To come one's way}, to go or come; to
depart or come along. --Shak.
{To go the way of all the earth}, to die.
Family \Fam"i*ly\, n.; pl. {Families}. [L. familia, fr. famulus
servant; akin to Oscan famel servant, cf. faamat he dwells,
Skr. dh[=a]man house, fr. dh[=a]to set, make, do: cf. F.
famille. Cf. {Do}, v. t., {Doom}, {Fact}, {Feat}.]
1. The collective body of persons who live in one house, and
under one head or manager; a household, including parents,
children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers
or boarders.
2. The group comprising a husband and wife and their
dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the
organization of society.
The welfare of the family underlies the welfare of
society. --H. Spencer.
3. Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe,
clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the
family of Abraham; the father of a family.
Go ! and pretend your family is young. --Pope.
4. Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors; lineage.
5. Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock; as, a man
of family.
6. A group of kindred or closely related individuals; as, a
family of languages; a family of States; the chlorine
family.
7. (Biol.) A group of organisms, either animal or vegetable,
related by certain points of resemblance in structure or
development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it
is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of
likeness. In zo["o]logy a family is less comprehesive than
an order; in botany it is often considered the same thing
as an order.
{Family circle}. See under {Circle}.
{Family man}.
(a) A man who has a family; esp., one who has a wife and
children living with him andd dependent upon him.
(b) A man of domestic habits. ``The Jews are generally,
when married, most exemplary family men.'' --Mayhew.
{Family of} {curves or surfaces} (Geom.), a group of curves
or surfaces derived from a single equation.
{In a family way}, like one belonging to the family. ``Why
don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family
way, and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks?''
--Thackeray.
{In the family way}, pregnant. [Colloq.]