lane

¹

[ leyn ]

noun

1. a narrow way or passage between hedges, fences, walls, or houses.

   Synonyms: alley

2. any narrow or well-defined passage, track, channel, or course.
3. a longitudinally marked part of a highway wide enough to accommodate one vehicle, often set off from adjacent lanes by painted lines (often used in combination):

   a new six-lane turnpike.

4. a fixed route followed by ocean steamers or airplanes.
5. (in a running or swimming race) the marked-off space or path within which a competitor must remain during the course of a race.
6. a long, narrow wooden track that a ball rolls down in a game of bowling.
7. an area of interest or expertise that is associated with a person or group whose contributions or authority in that area are respected:

   Teen magazines should stay in their lane and stick to publishing articles about relationships, style, and beauty.

8. Politics. an affiliation or faction that presents one path to nomination or election victory for candidates who espouse that ideology or embody its ideals:

   The libertarian candidates siphoned voters away from the conservative establishment lane in the primary.

9. (in a MOBA video game) one of the major arteries on the map between the two strongholds in which the fighting between characters occurs:

   Our strategy is to push with a support character in the top lane.

lane

²

[ leyn ]

adjective

1. lone.

Lane

³

[ leyn ]

noun

1. a male given name.

lane

¹

/ leɪn /

noun

1. 1. a narrow road or way between buildings, hedges, fences, etc
   2. ( capital as part of a street name )

      Drury Lane

2. 1. any of the parallel strips into which the carriageway of a major road or motorway is divided
   2. any narrow well-defined route or course for ships or aircraft
3. one of the parallel strips into which a running track or swimming bath is divided for races
4. the long strip of wooden flooring down which balls are bowled in a bowling alley

lane

²

/ leɪn /

adjective

1. lone or alone
2. one's lane
   one's laneon one's lane on one's own

Word History and Origins

Origin of lane¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch laan “avenue,” Old Norse lǫn “oblong hayrick, row of houses”

Word History and Origins

Origin of lane¹

Old English lane, lanu, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch lāne lane

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. by one's lane. lonesome ( def 4 ).

More idioms and phrases containing lane

see fast lane ; lovers' lane .

Synonym Study

See path.

Example Sentences

Hawthorne Boulevard’s northbound lanes feature escape lanes on the right to help drivers who pick up too much speed coming down hill.

From Washington Post

All motorists benefit from HOT lanes, Townsend said, because those willing to pay tolls free up space in the free lanes.

From Washington Post

Police said the car had started to slow for traffic in front of it that was trying to yield to the man running across the roadway, but the Honda hit him in the left lane of the highway.

From Washington Post

Back on flat ground, it was so slow, it was legitimately unsafe to pass in the oncoming lane.

From Outside Online

As robots evolve, we can release them from their fixed “lanes.”

From MIT Technology Review

This week the Church of England named the Reverend Libby Lane as its first female bishop.

From The Daily Beast

Former cadet Lane said he only saw Jackson attempt to catch one of them.

From The Daily Beast

Down a one-lane gravel road sits the house Burton left seven years ago.

From The Daily Beast

Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play lovers—life partners, really.

From The Daily Beast

Cars swarm dangerously around them on this two-lane road carved, literally, into the side of a chain of mountains.

From The Daily Beast

The order of meals at Lane End was somewhat peculiar even then, and would now be almost unique.

From Project Gutenberg

The main entrance is in the centre of the St. Martin's Lane front, and consists of a central roadway for carts and wagons, 15ft.

From Project Gutenberg

They walked silently down the lane together, Gilbert sullen and mortified, Dorothy pitying but resolute.

From Project Gutenberg

Water Street, formerly Water Lane, had a brook running down one side of it when houses were first built there.

From Project Gutenberg

Mis' Calvert, she saw you in a lane, or somethin', and fetched you back to that Baltimore city where the both of you lived.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• artery
• avenue
• boulevard
• expressway
• highway
• pathway
• roadway
• route
• street
• thoroughfare