Word of the Day for Thursday July 31, 2008
egress \EE-gress\, noun:
1. The act of going out or leaving, or the right or freedom to leave; departure.
2. A means of going out or leaving; an exit; an outlet.
\ee-GRESS\, intransitive verb:
1. To go out; to depart; to leave.
Today gates and walls, much more hard and fixed barriers than street patterns, control entrance and egress in suburban subdivisions and urban neighborhoods around the country.
-- Edward J. Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder, Fortress America
New York's superb natural harbor and its links westward via the Erie Canal and, later, several trunk railroads made it an ideal entry and egress point for goods and people.
-- Joshua B. Freeman, Working-Class New York
In order to keep the crowds moving through the exhibits in his traveling show . . . Mr. [P.T.] Barnum posted signs that read: "This Way to the Egress." Eager to view this presumably strange and exotic exhibit, the throngs would push through the door labeled "Egress" -- and find themselves in the street.
-- Laurie A. O'Neill, "Almanac Is Itself a Rare Occurrence", New York Times, December 27, 1981
Egress is from Latin egressus, from egredi, "to go out," from e-, "out" + gradi, "to step."