beltway
[belt-wey]
- Also called belt highway. a highway around the perimeter of an urban area.
- the Beltway, the Washington, D.C., area within the highway that encircles it.
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Origin of beltway
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for beltway
Contemporary Examples
It was just something they knew they had to say for a while to sound responsible in Beltway land.
After all, Beltway elites—and many voters—are under the impression that the Republican Party is still nostalgic for the Cold War.
But travel outside the Beltway, and the conversation about impeachment is far from abstract.
For Sanders, all of that speculation is nonsense, Beltway gossip that is distracting people from running to the barricades.
He also may find unexpected support from inside the Beltway.
beltway
- the usual US name for a ring road
- (usually with capital)
- the people and institutions located in the area bounded by the Washington Beltway, taken to be politically and socially out of touch with the rest of America and much given to political intrigue
- (as modifier)Beltway Cassandras
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for beltway
n.
term in U.S. for a ring highway around an urban area, especially Interstate 495 around Washington, D.C., the Capital Beltway, completed 1964. Figurative for "Washington, D.C., and its culture" for better or worse, since c.1978.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper