road mapn.
/ˈrəʊd map/, U.S. /ˈroʊd ˌmæp/ 1. A map that shows the roads of a country or area, sometimes also giving basic local information of interest to a traveller; (esp. in later use) such a map designed especially for motorists, now often published in book form as a road atlas and giving details of roads, such as classification, number, etc. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > map > [noun] > other types of map
mappa mundia1387
mappemondea1393
table1610
Mercator's chart1645
Peutingerian tablea1657
Mercator1694
hemisphere1706
Peutinger1731
road map1741
geological map1798
route map1816
ordnance map1828
outline map1836
contour map1862
index map1869
hypsographical map1881
soil map1898
wheel-map1899
strip map1903
distribution map1947
worm's-eye map1964
topo1970
1741 Traveller's Pocket-companion p. x We have prefixed a general road map, which likewise shews the market days of every city and town.
?1790 London Compan. 133 Lately published,..(illustrated by two Road Maps,)..The Traveller's Companion, or An Itinerary of England and Wales.
1807 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) III. 26 Shortly will be published a new road Map of the country between N. Stowey & Enmore, comprising many pleasant new roads.
1840 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 10 544 A road-map, in which the rivers, streams, towns, villages,..&c., are laid down.
1883 Wheelman Jan. 315 The preparation of road maps and posting of guide-boards are to be important features in next season's work.
1909 F. Miltoun Ital. Highways & Byways iv. 77 Taride, the French map publisher, issues a cheap series of Italian road maps.
1948 R. Raven-Hart Canoe in Austral. 56 It figured in the road-map as a township,..‘pop. 37’.
1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 110 Navigator, the co-driver of a two-man operation who reads the road maps while going through unfamiliar towns.
1986 W. L. Schweber Integrated Circuits for Computers ix. 259 There must be some way of formatting a blank disk out of the box, to put a basic ‘road map’ of tracks and sectors on the disk.
2007 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 13 Sept. 44 New research released this week reveals that about 11 million motorists cannot read a basic road map.
2. figurative. Frequently with to, for. A means of bringing about or reaching something; an outline or representation of something, used as a guide. Now often: spec. a plan or strategy intended to achieve a particular (political) goal, as road map to (also for) peace, etc.
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1897 McClure's Mag. Sept. 972/2 One of these was a perfectly practical familiarity with the official road map to his mother's heart.
1951 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 3 Nov. 7/5 She was in charge of the devotional period which has as a theme ‘Road Map to Peace’.
1977 Ann. Internal Med. 86 562/1 In these cases visualization of the biliary tree becomes essential for diagnosis and as a ‘roadmap’ for surgeons.
1984 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 27 Sept. 15 In the current election campaign, both candidates should outline their road maps for peace—a bipartisan journey leading through presidencies beyond their own.
2000 News (Karachi) 25 Apr. 6/3 The military government should give a clear road-map for restoration of democracy.
2008 Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 20/3 Today, the Chancellor will banish the plastic bag. Or, more accurately, he is expected to unveil a road map to baglessness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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