route

[root, rout]

noun

1. a course, way, or road for passage or travel.

   What's the shortest route to Boston?

2. a customary or regular line of passage or travel.

   There's a ship from our company on the North Atlantic route.

3. a specific itinerary, round, or number of stops regularly visited by a person in the performance of their work or duty.

   a newspaper route;

   a mail carrier's route.

   Synonyms: circuit, beat

verb (used with object)

routed, routing 

1. to set the path of.

   to route a tour.

2. to send or forward by a particular course or road.

   It's the post office's job to route mail to its proper destination.

route

/ ruːt /

noun

1. the choice of roads taken to get to a place

2. a regular journey travelled

3. (capital) a main road between cities

   Route 66

4. mountaineering the direction or course taken by a climb

5. med the means by which a drug or agent is administered or enters the body, such as by mouth or by injection

   oral route

verb

1. to plan the route of; send by a particular route

Usage

When forming the present participle or verbal noun from the verb to route it is preferable to retain the e in order to distinguish the word from routing , the present participle or verbal noun from rout ¹ , to defeat or rout ² , to dig, rummage: the routeing of buses from the city centre to the suburbs . The spelling routing in this sense is, however, sometimes encountered, esp in American English

Other Word Forms

• misroute verb (used with object)
• preroute verb (used with object)
• reroute verb

Word History and Origins

Origin of route¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English: “way, course,” from Old French, from Latin rupta (via) “broken (road),” feminine past participle of rumpere “to break”; rout ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of route¹

C13: from Old French rute , from Vulgar Latin rupta via (unattested), literally: a broken (established) way, from Latin ruptus broken, from rumpere to break, burst

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. go the route,

   1. to see something through to completion.

      It was a tough assignment, but he went the route.

   2. Baseball. to pitch the complete game.

      The heat and humidity were intolerable, but the pitcher managed to go the route.

Example Sentences

Then that summer, during football practice, he tweaked his hamstring while running through routes at tight end.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Google’s Optical Circuit Switching, or OCS, helps to route around service interruptions, the company said.

Read more on MarketWatch

Moscow is striking the supply routes into the city with every kind of munition.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Quarterbacks loosen their arms, while pass catchers get their legs warm, running routes on air.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Average freight rates fell 31% across most shipping routes and costs increased due to the higher volumes, partly offset by lower fuel prices.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• avenue 
• course 
• direction 
• itinerary 
• journey 
• line 
• passage 
• road 
• track 
• trail 
• way