Found 1 items, similar to in the family way.
English → English (gcide) Definition: In the family way Way \Way\, n. [OE. wey, way, AS. weg; akin to OS., D., OHG., & G. weg, Icel. vegr, Sw. v["a]g, Dan. vei, Goth. wigs, L. via, and AS. wegan to move, L. vehere to carry, Skr. vah. [root]136. Cf. Convex, Inveigh, Vehicle, Vex, Via, Voyage, Wag, Wagon, Wee, Weigh.] [1913 Webster] 1. That by, upon, or along, which one passes or processes; opportunity or room to pass; place of passing; passage; road, street, track, or path of any kind; as, they built a way to the mine. “To find the way to heaven.” --Shak. [1913 Webster] I shall him seek by way and eke by street. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] The way seems difficult, and steep to scale. --Milton. [1913 Webster] The season and ways were very improper for his majesty's forces to march so great a distance. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster] 2. Length of space; distance; interval; as, a great way; a long way. [1913 Webster] And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] 3. A moving; passage; procession; journey. [1913 Webster] I prythee, now, lead the way. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. Course or direction of motion or process; tendency of action; advance. [1913 Webster] If that way be your walk, you have not far. --Milton. [1913 Webster] And let eternal justice take the way. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 5. The means by which anything is reached, or anything is accomplished; scheme; device; plan. [1913 Webster] My best way is to creep under his gaberdine. --Shak. [1913 Webster] By noble ways we conquest will prepare. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] What impious ways my wishes took! --Prior. [1913 Webster] 6. Manner; method; mode; fashion; style; as, the way of expressing one's ideas. [1913 Webster] 7. Regular course; habitual method of life or action; plan of conduct; mode of dealing. “Having lost the way of nobleness.” --Sir. P. Sidney. [1913 Webster] Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. --Prov. iii. 17. [1913 Webster] When men lived in a grander way. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] 8. Sphere or scope of observation. --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster] The public ministers that fell in my way. --Sir W. Temple. [1913 Webster] 9. Determined course; resolved mode of action or conduct; as, to have one's way. [1913 Webster] 10. (Naut.) (a) Progress; as, a ship has way. (b) pl. The timbers on which a ship is launched. [1913 Webster] 11. pl. (Mach.) The longitudinal guides, or guiding surfaces, on the bed of a planer, lathe, or the like, along which a table or carriage moves. [1913 Webster] 12. (Law) Right of way. See below. [1913 Webster] By the way, in passing; apropos; aside; apart from, though connected with, the main object or subject of discourse. By way of, for the purpose of; as being; in character of. Covert way. (Fort.) See Covered way, under Covered. In the family way. See under Family. In the way, so as to meet, fall in with, obstruct, hinder, etc. In the way with, traveling or going with; meeting or being with; in the presence of. Milky way. (Astron.) See Galaxy, 1. No way, No ways. See Noway, Noways, in the Vocabulary. On the way, traveling or going; hence, in process; advancing toward completion; as, on the way to this country; on the way to success. Out of the way. See under Out. Right of way (Law), a right of private passage over another's ground. It may arise either by grant or prescription. It may be attached to a house, entry, gate, well, or city lot, as well as to a country farm. --Kent. To be under way, or To have way (Naut.), to be in motion, as when a ship begins to move. To give way. See under Give. To go one's way, or To come one's way, to go or come; to depart or come along. --Shak. To go one's way to proceed in a manner favorable to one; -- of events. To come one's way to come into one's possession (of objects) or to become available, as an opportunity; as, good things will come your way. To go the way of all the earth or to go the way of all flesh to die. To make one's way, to advance in life by one's personal efforts. To make way. See under Make, v. t. Ways and means. (a) Methods; resources; facilities. (b) (Legislation) Means for raising money; resources for revenue. Way leave, permission to cross, or a right of way across, land; also, rent paid for such right. [Eng] Way of the cross (Eccl.), the course taken in visiting in rotation the stations of the cross. See Station, n., 7 (c) . Way of the rounds (Fort.), a space left for the passage of the rounds between a rampart and the wall of a fortified town. Way pane, a pane for cartage in irrigated land. See Pane, n., 4. [Prov. Eng.] Way passenger, a passenger taken up, or set down, at some intermediate place between the principal stations on a line of travel. Ways of God, his providential government, or his works. Way station, an intermediate station between principal stations on a line of travel, especially on a railroad. Way train, a train which stops at the intermediate, or way, stations; an accommodation train. Way warden, the surveyor of a road. [1913 Webster] Syn: Street; highway; road. Usage: Way, Street, Highway, Road. Way is generic, denoting any line for passage or conveyance; a highway is literally one raised for the sake of dryness and convenience in traveling; a road is, strictly, a way for horses and carriages; a street is, etymologically, a paved way, as early made in towns and cities; and, hence, the word is distinctively applied to roads or highways in compact settlements. [1913 Webster] All keep the broad highway, and take delight With many rather for to go astray. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] There is but one road by which to climb up. --Addison. [1913 Webster] When night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. --Milton. [1913 Webster] Family \Fam"i*ly\, n.; pl. Families. [L. familia, fr. famulus servant; akin to Oscan famel servant, cf. faamat he dwells, Skr. dh[=a]man house, fr. dh[=a]to set, make, do: cf. F. famille. Cf. Do, v. t., Doom, Fact, Feat.] 1. The collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers or boarders. [1913 Webster] 2. The group comprising a husband and wife and their dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the organization of society. [1913 Webster] The welfare of the family underlies the welfare of society. --H. Spencer. [1913 Webster] 3. Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the family of Abraham; the father of a family. [1913 Webster] Go ! and pretend your family is young. --Pope. [1913 Webster] 4. Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors; lineage. [1913 Webster] 5. Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock; as, a man of family. [1913 Webster] 6. A group of kindred or closely related individuals; as, a family of languages; a family of States; the chlorine family. [1913 Webster] 7. (Biol.) A group of organisms, either animal or vegetable, related by certain points of resemblance in structure or development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of likeness. In zo["o]logy a family is less comprehesive than an order; in botany it is often considered the same thing as an order. [1913 Webster] Family circle. See under Circle. Family man. (a) A man who has a family; esp., one who has a wife and children living with him and dependent upon him. (b) A man of domestic habits. “The Jews are generally, when married, most exemplary family men.” --Mayhew. Family of curves or Family of surfaces (Geom.), a group of curves or surfaces derived from a single equation. In a family way, like one belonging to the family. “Why don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family way, and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks?” --Thackeray. In the family way, pregnant. [Colloq. euphemism] [1913 Webster]