motorway
English
The M3 / M25 motorway interchange in Surrey, England
Etymology
motor + way
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈməʊtəweɪ/
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
motorway (plural motorways)
- (In Europe, New Zealand and parts of Australia) A highway with grade-separated crossings (rather than level crossings) and designed (and only permitted) for high-speed motor-traffic (in Europe motor vehicles with a higher speed limit than 40 km/h) running in two directions on one separate carriageway each
- Synonyms: (In parts of Australia, Canada and the U.S.) freeway, (In Malaysia, Singapore and parts of North America) expressway, (In parts of North America where freeway is unused) highway, (Chiefly in Quebec and France) autoroute
- 1895 October, “Real Estate”, in California Banker's Magazine, page 429:
- All the R. R.'s of America will have to be furnished with a biking way and a motor way on each side of the rails.
- 1913 September 20, Good Roads, page 137:
- Work of constructing the Texas Motorway, a stone highway which when completed will extend from Fort Worth to Del Rio, Tex., a distance of 500 miles, has been commenced and a section between 18 and 20 miles long running out from Glenrose, the county seat of Somervell County, has been completed.
- 1925 December, C. L. Norton, “Our Industrial Highways”, in Trade Winds, volume 4, number 10:
- It is presumed that in the working out of the program the motor trucks will automatically have the major use of the local low-speed highways paralleling the motorway.
- (Chiefly in the U.S.) A racetrack venue designated especially for the sport of auto racing.
- Synonyms: (motor) speedway, motospeedway
- 2018, Wonning, Paul R., A Year of Indiana History Stories, volume 1, Greensburg, Indiana: Mossy Feet Books, page 250:
- In December, track operators replaced the crushed rock with brick, earning the motorway the nickname, Brickyard.
- 2020 July 13, Olson, Jeff, “Race To Develop Automotive, Safety Technology Never Stops at IMS”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Indianapolis Motor Speedway, retrieved 2021-12-16:
- The 9-degree banking you see in the Speedway’s four turns is believed to be the first intentionally banked motorway in the United States.
Translations
A highway designed for high-speed motor-traffic
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