street

/stri:t/ noun (C)

1 a public road in a city or town that has houses, shops etc on one or both sides: Oxford Street, London | street map (=showing the names and positions of all the roads) | street musicians (=performing outdoors in towns)

—see also: high street

2 the streets a phrase meaning the roads of a city, used to mean a place where people live who have no home and where it is difficult to survive: on the streets: young people living on the streets

3 the man/woman in the street the average person, who represents the general opinion about things: The man in the street wouldn't have a clue what a dongle is.

4 (right) up your street a job or course that is up your street is exactly right for you because you have the right skills and are interested in it

5 one-way/two-way street a process that fully involves the opinions and feelings of only one person or group, or of both people or groups: Trust is not a one-way street.

6 walk the streets old-fashioned an expression meaning to be a prostitute

7 streets ahead (of) BrE informal much better than someone or something else: James is streets ahead of the rest of the class at reading.

—see also: backstreet, be on easy street easy 1 (11), street smarts USAGE NOTE: STREET WORD CHOICE: street, road A street is in the middle of a town, and usually has shops and other buildings and pavements (BrE)/sidewalks (AmE): a street corner (NOT road corner) A road can be in the town or in the country, and usually leads to another town, or to another part of a town: the road to Birmingham (NOT street) BRE-AME DIFFERENCES British speakers often say in a street or road where American speakers say on a street or road; the shops in the High Street (BrE)| the stores on Main Street (AmE)| a house in Bristol Road (BrE)| a house on Boston Road (AmE). In spoken American English words like street are often left out especially when giving directions to numbered streets: Where's the Empire State Building? At 34th and 5th. In British English this would be: At the junction of 34th Street and 5th Avenue.