pave

• POS: Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

pave, v. t. [F. paver to pave, LL. pavare, from L. pavire to beat, ram, or tread down; cf. Gr. pai`ein to beat, strike.].

•  To lay or cover with stone, brick, or other material, so as to make a firm, level, or convenient surface for vehicles, horses, carriages, or persons on foot, to travel on; to floor with brick, stone, or other solid material; as, to pave a street; to pave a court.  [1913 Webster]

  "With silver paved, and all divine with gold."  [1913 Webster]

  "To pave thy realm, and smooth the broken ways."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: To make smooth, easy, and safe; to prepare, as a path or way; as, to pave the way to promotion; to pave the way for an enterprise.  [1913 Webster]

  "It might open and pave a prepared way to his own title."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

pave, v.tr.
1 a cover (a street, floor, etc.) with paving etc. b cover or strew (a floor etc.) with anything (paved with flowers).
2 prepare (paved the way for her arrival).

Idiom

paving-stone a large flat usu. rectangular piece of stone etc. for paving.

Derivative

paver n. paving n. pavior n. (also paviour).

Etymology

ME f. OF paver, back-form. (as PAVEMENT)

THESAURUS

pave

asphalt, blacktop, carpet, causeway, cement, cobblestone, concrete, cover, ease, facilitate, flag, floor, metal, pebble, surface, tar, tarmac, tile

ROGET THESAURUS

pave

Covering

VB cover, superpose, superimpose, overlay, overspread, wrap, encase, incase, face, case, veneer, pave, paper, tip, cap, bind, bulkhead, bulkhead in, clapboard, coat, paint, varnish, pay, incrust, stucco, dab, plaster, tar, wash, besmear, bedaub, anoint, do over, gild, plate, japan, lacquer, lacker, enamel, whitewash, parget, lay it on thick, overlie, overarch, endome, conceal, anodize, galvanize.