main road

main road (plural main roads)

1. A major road in a town or village, or in a country area.
2. (New England, UK) A major urban road, off which lead many smaller streets, many of them cul-de-sacs.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess‎:

     The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

   Living near the main road means you hear a lot of traffic noise.

3. (South Africa) High Street; Main Street
4. (in some countries) priority road; A road with entering traffic which must yield right of way

• Romandia, radioman