thoroughfare

Etymology

From Middle English thurghfare, corresponding to thorough- (“through”) + fare. Compare Old English þurhfaran (“to go through, go over, traverse, pierce, pass through, pass beyond, transcend, penetrate”). Compare also Old English þurhfær (“inner secret place”), German Durchfahrt (“passage through, thoroughfare”).

noun

1. (now rare except in certain set phrases) A passage; a way through.
   “I ask you,” cried Lloyd George in 1909. “Are we to have all the ways of reform, financial and social, blocked simply by a notice board: ‘No thoroughfare. By order of Nathanial Rothschild’?” 1961, Frederic Morton, The Rothschilds, page 173
   In the scullery Smiley had once more checked his thoroughfare, shoved some deck-chairs aside, and pinned a string to the mangle to guide him because he saw badly in the dark. 1974, John Le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
2. A road open at both ends or connecting one area with another; a highway or main street.
   a dozen houses were quickly blazing, including those of Sir John Fielding and two other justices, and four in Holborn – one of the greatest thoroughfares in London – which were all burning at the same time, and burned until they went out of themselves, for the people cut the engine hose, and would not suffer the firemen to play upon the flames. 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge
   Local art is now a viable industry, and hundreds of islanders make a living in it. The thoroughfare of Oneroa village is lined with shops and galleries full of their work. 1 Jul 2011, Stephen Phelan, The Guardian
3. (uncountable) The act of going through; passage; travel, transit.
   The sign leading to the other carriage reads: No thoroughfare.
   Mr. Roscoe, on the contrary, has claimed none of the accorded privileges of talent. He has shut himself up in no garden of thought, no elysium of fancy; but has gone forth into the highways and thoroughfares of life; […]. 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Roscoe
4. An unobstructed waterway allowing passage for ships.