headway

Definition

Movement ahead or forward.

Etymology

Partly from Middle English hauedwei, from Old English hēafodweġ (“head-road, main-road”); partly as a shortening of ahead-way, the source of the nautical sense. By surface analysis, head + way.

Example Sentences

• "The whole of the main lines to be electrified were being equipped with four-aspect colour-light signals, automatically operated, where appropriate, and spaced to give a 5min headway throughout."
• "Sixty minutes divided by the headway gives a potential figure for 'trains per hour' - the simplest possible and most simplistic definition of capacity, termed line capacity."
• "So as not to impede navigation the two principal spans of the bridge were designed to provide a clear headway of 157 ft. above high water for a distance of 500 ft.; [...]."

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