[WAY sb.1 + WARDEN sb.1] A person (later, one of a board) elected to supervise the highways of a parish or district.
1776. G. White, Selborne, To Barrington, 8 Jan. As to that [shrew-ash] on the Plestor, ‘The late vicar stubb’d and burnt it,’ when he was way-warden.
1829. in Archaeologia (1831), XXIII. 398. Mr. George Charman, the way-warden … had frequently observed that the cattle resorted to a particular spot to rest.
1862. Act 25 & 26 Vict., c. 61 § 9. The Highway Board shall consist of the Waywardens elected in the several Places within the District.
1863. Trollope, Rachel Ray, I. 274. He was poor-law guardian and way-warden.
1872–4. Jefferies, Toilers of Field (1892), 238. This man … was enabled to do a quantity of hauling, flint-carting for the way-wardens, [etc.].
