right of way

Or right-of-way

noun

plural

rights of way, right of ways 

1. a common law or statutory right granted to a vehicle, as an airplane or boat, to proceed ahead of another.

2. a path or route that may lawfully be used.

3. a right of passage, as over another's land.

4. the strip of land acquired for use by a railroad for tracks.

5. land covered by a public road.

6. land over which a power line passes.

7. Fencing.,  the right to attack or continue an attack, and thus to be credited with a hit, by virtue of having first extended the sword arm or having parried the opponent's attack.

right of way

noun

1. the right of one vehicle or vessel to take precedence over another, as laid down by law or custom

2. 1. the legal right of someone to pass over another's land, acquired by grant or by long usage

   2. the path or road used by this right

3. the strip of land over which a power line, railway line, road, etc, extends

Word History and Origins

Origin of right of way¹

First recorded in 1760–70

Idioms and Phrases

The right of one person or vehicle to travel over another's property, as in The new owner doesn't like it, but hikers have had the right of way through these woods for decades . [Mid-1700s]

The right to precede another person or vehicle, as in Sailboats always have the right of way over motorboats, and swimmers do over any kind of boat . [Early 1900s]

Example Sentences

"Nobody owns the sand, the sand is a natural public right of way," says Suzanne McGowan who has lived in Sandbanks since 1992 and has walked her dogs in the area daily.

Read more on BBC

A retired Las Vegas police officer walked free after fatally shooting a retired computer network engineer during a dispute over who had the right of way in a Walmart parking lot.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The robots swarming around look like electric orange self-driving lawn mowers in a coordinated dance, giving one another the right of way.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They’re dirt and sand roads, but there’s intersections, there’s right of way.

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“After examining this incident, we learned that our safety system designed to predict pedestrians’ intentions and yield right of way instead caused the robot to impede their way,” the company stated.

Read more on Los Angeles Times