lane

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   One of the marked strips that divide a road for a single line of vehicles.

   Drivers should overtake in the outside lane.

2. 2
   noun

   A narrow road or path, often in the countryside.

   We walked along a quiet country lane lined with hedges.

3. 3
   noun

   A marked strip of a running track or swimming pool that keeps competitors apart.

   The fastest swimmer was placed in the middle lane.

From Middle English lane, lone, from Old English lanu (“a lane, alley, avenue”), from Proto-West Germanic *lanu, from Proto-Germanic *lanō (“lane, passageway”). Cognate with Scots lone (“cattle-track, by-road”), West Frisian leane, loane (“a walkway, avenue”), Dutch laan (“alley, avenue”), German Low German Lane, Laan (“lane”), Swedish lån (“covered walkway encircling a house”), Icelandic lön (“a row of houses”).

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