street Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings
    • they walked the streets of the small town
    • he lives on Nassau Street
  2. noun the part of a thoroughfare between the sidewalks; the part of the thoroughfare on which vehicles travel
    • be careful crossing the street
  3. noun the streets of a city viewed as a depressed environment in which there is poverty and crime and prostitution and dereliction
    • she tried to keep her children off the street
  4. noun a situation offering opportunities
    • he worked both sides of the street
    • cooperation is a two-way street
  5. noun people living or working on the same street
    • the whole street protested the absence of street lights

WordNet

Street noun
Etymology
OE. strete, AS. strt, fr. L. strata (sc. via) a paved way, properly fem. p.p. of sternere, stratum, to spread; akin to E. strew. See Strew, and cf. Stratum, Stray, v. & a.
Definitions
  1. Originally, a paved way or road; a public highway; now commonly, a thoroughfare in a city or village, bordered by dwellings or business houses.
    He removed [the body of] Amasa from the street unto the field. Coverdale.
    At home or through the high street passing. Milton.
    ✍ In an extended sense, street designates besides the roadway, the walks, houses, shops, etc., which border the thoroughfare.
    His deserted mansion in Duke Street. Macaulay.
    Syn. -- See Way.

Webster 1913