pavement

American  

[peyv-muhnt] / ˈpeɪv mənt /

noun

1. a paved road, highway, etc.

2. a paved surface, ground covering, or floor.

3. a material used for paving. pave.

4. Atlantic States and British. sidewalk.

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idioms

1. pound the pavement, to walk the streets in order to accomplish something.

   If you're going to find work you'd better start pounding the pavement.

pavement British  

/ ˈpeɪvmənt /

noun

1. US and Canadian word: sidewalk.  a hard-surfaced path for pedestrians alongside and a little higher than a road

2. a paved surface, esp one that is a thoroughfare

3. the material used in paving

4. civil engineering the hard layered structure that forms a road carriageway, airfield runway, vehicle park, or other paved areas

5. geology a level area of exposed rock resembling a paved road See limestone pavement

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pavement More Idioms  

1. see pound the pavement.

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Other Word Forms

• pavemental adjective
• prepavement noun
• subpavement noun

Etymology

Origin of pavement

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin pavīmentum. See pave, -ment

Example Sentences

Petite and Black, with hundreds of tiny braids cascading down her back, she walked with unexpectedly long strides, eating up the pavement while looking straight ahead, body framed by late-afternoon summer sunlight.

From Literature

Young Clare had rested his head on the pavement, fraught with the revelation that he would be alone in the Afterlife.

From Literature

Lichtenberg isn’t pounding the pavement to find and unveil secrets about institutions and power brokers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Father stooped down to pick up a small bruised petal from the brick pavement; tenderly he inserted it in his buttonhole.

From Literature

Footage showed security officers lying on the pavement outside another stadium, according to videos verified by Storyful, a social-media intelligence firm owned by News Corp, the parent company of the Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• asphalt
• road
• sidewalk