Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
WAY
I. noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English weg; akin to Old High German weg way, Old English wegan to move, Latin vehere to carry, via way Date: before 12th century
1. a thoroughfare for travel or transportation from place to place, an opening for passage , the course traveled from one place to another ; route ,
3. a course (as a series of actions or sequence of events) leading in a direction or toward an objective , b. a course of action , opportunity, capability, or fact of doing as one pleases , a possible decision, action, or outcome ; possibility ,
4. manner or method of doing or happening , feature , respect , a usually specified degree of participation in an activity or enterprise ,
5. characteristic, regular, or habitual manner or mode of being, behaving, or happening , ability to get along well or perform well , the length of a course ; distance , movement or progress along a course ,
8. direction , participant , state of affairs ; condition , state , 1
0. an inclined structure upon which a ship is built or supported in launching, the guiding surfaces on the bed of a machine along which a table or carriage moves, category , kind , motion or speed of a ship or boat through the water, see: method
II. adjective
Date: 1799
of, connected with, or constituting an intermediate point on a route,
III. adverb
Date: 1849
1. away 7 , by far ; much , very 2 , all the way