road [OE] In Old English road meant ‘a journey on horseback’, and the word is related to *ride. The sense of ‘a wide track to travel on’, the equivalent of *street, is not recorded until the end of the 16th century, although there is some evidence it may have been in use before this. The middle of the road has been the place for moderate views since the 1890s, originally in the context of US politics. The phrase has referred to easy-listening music since the late 1950s. The road less travelled to refer to an unconventional or unusual course of action comes from the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ (1916) by Robert Frost: ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less travelled by, / And that has made all the difference’. See also hell, rage.