different between path vs beeline

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ (“path, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (“path”) (compare West Frisian paad, Dutch pad, German Pfad), Ancient Greek ????? (paté?) / ????? (pátos), from Iranian (compare Avestan ????????????????????? (panta, “way”), ????????????????? (pa?a, genitive), Old Persian [script needed] (pathi-)), from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs (compare Sanskrit ????? (páthin)), from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh?s, from *pent- (“path”) (compare English find). Doublet of panth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [p????]
  • (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): [p?ä??], [p????]
• IPA^(key): /pæ?/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [p?æ?], [p????], [p?e??]
  • (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): [p?a?], [p?æ?]
• Rhymes: -???, -æ?

Noun

path (plural paths)

1. A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
2. A course taken.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.

3. (paganism) A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
4. A metaphorical course.
5. A method or direction of proceeding.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

6. (computing) A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL.

7. (graph theory) A sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
8. (topology) A continuous map ${\displaystyle f}$ from the unit interval ${\displaystyle I=[0,1]}$ to a topological space ${\displaystyle X}$.
9. (rail transport) A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.

Synonyms

• (1): track, trail; see also Thesaurus:way

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

path (third-person singular simple present paths, present participle pathing, simple past and past participle pathed)

1. (transitive) To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
   • 1597, Michael Drayton, England's Heroical Epistles

     pathing young Henry's unadvised ways

Etymology 2

Shortening.

Noun

path (uncountable)

1. (medicine, abbreviation) Pathology.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; June 2005]
• “path”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Ptah, phat

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English pæþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz, from an Iranian language, from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs.

Alternative forms

• paþ, peth, paþþe, paaþ, pathe, paththe, pað, paath

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?/, /pa??/, /p??/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

path (plural pathes)

1. An informal or unpaved path or trail; a track.
2. A choice or way of living; a doctrine.
3. (rare, Late Middle English) A course or route.
4. (rare, Late Middle English) A vessel or vein.

Related terms

• pathen
• pathyng

Descendants

• English: path
• Scots: paith

References

• “p??th, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-08.

Etymology 2

From path (noun).

Verb

path

1. Alternative form of pathen

English

Alternative forms

• bee-line

Etymology

From bee +? line, due to the belief that a bee returns to its hive in a straight course.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bi?la?n/
• Rhymes: -i?la?n

Noun

beeline (plural beelines)

1. A very direct or quick path or trip.
   • , Episode 16

     Discussing these and kindred topics they made a beeline across the back of the Customhouse and passed under the Loop Line bridge where a brazier of coke burning in front of a sentrybox or something like one attracted their rather lagging footsteps.

2. (mining, chiefly historical) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate.

Translations

Verb

beeline (third-person singular simple present beelines, present participle beelining, simple past and past participle beelined)

1. To travel in a straight course, ignoring established paths of travel.

See also

• as the crow flies
• like a martin to his gourd