Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cover with a pavement.
- v. To cover uniformly, as if with pavement.
- v. To be or compose the pavement of.
- idiom. pave the way To make progress or development easier: experiments that paved the way for future research.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To cover or lay with blocks of stone or wood, or with bricks, tiles, etc., regularly disposed, and set firmly in their places so as to make a hard level surface; in general, to cover with any kind of pavement: as, to pave a street; to pave the courtyard.
Wiktionary
- v. To cover something with paving slabs
- v. To cover with stone, concrete, blacktop or other covering to make a road for vehicles
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To lay or cover with stone, brick, or other material, so as to make a firm, level, or convenient surface for vehicles, horses, carriages, or persons on foot, to travel on; to floor with brick, stone, or other solid material
- v. Fig.: To make smooth, easy, and safe; to prepare, as a path or way
WordNet 3.0
- n. a setting with precious stones so closely set that no metal shows
- v. cover with a material such as stone or concrete to make suitable for vehicle traffic
Etymologies
- Middle English paven, from Old French paver, from Latin pavīre, to beat, tread down; see pau-2 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Often the pave is a spatter of the fallen mangos, its slippery condition of no import to the barefooted Tahitian, but to the shod a cause of sudden, strange gyrations and gestures, and of irreverence toward the Deity.”
“An irresistible bass line intertwined with a somewhat jazzy guitar phrase pave the way for the song's gorgeously arranged vocals.”
“And I knew that in order for me to succeed with music, I would have to really do something different and almost kind of pave my own path.”
“So in stead I kind of expected the English word to be the same as the Norwegian, namely "pave".”
“COLLINS: But Ellen DeGeneres, didn't she kind of pave the way for that?”
“But though the mania for British goods had literally caused an entire stagnation of business in the French manufacturing towns, and thrown throngs upon the 'pave' for want of employment, yet M. de Calonne either did not see, or pretended not to see, the errors he had committed.”
“Without an instant's pause, the driver wheeled his car off the 'pave', crashed through the broken treetops, and continued on his way.”
“You needed an experienced investigator to figure out who you should be talking to, and to kind of pave the way for you. ”
The Missing Hour
“The Good News: ABC President Paul Lee has said he would like to create another comedy block on the network, which could pave the way for this consistent if not blockbuster sitcom to stick around.”
“Reports surfaced Sunday that the Denver Nuggets gave the Nets permission to talk with Anthony to persuade him to accept a three-year, $65 million extension, which could pave the way for a three-team deal that would send the All-Star forward to New Jersey.”
The Huffington Post: Melo's Meeting With New Jersey Is News To Nets Coach
davidreik I notice that many of the examples are for the unusual noun form of "pave." I exchanged e-mail messages with poet Robert Haas about the noun form of "pave." Haas recently said, on the NPR program "Fresh Air," that only Walt Whitman used "pave" as a noun --- the phrase "blab of the pave" appears in "Leaves of Grass." I cited the Thackery quote from sometime before 1850.
David Reik, West Hartford, CT May 3, 2010