From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishright of wayˌright of ˈway noun (plural rights of way) 1 [uncountable]TTR the right to drive into or across a road before other vehicles I never know who has right of way at this junction. British English The law here says that pedestrians always have the right of way.2 [countable] British English a) TTRthe right to walk across someone else’s land Walkers are often quite aggressive about their rights of way. b) TTRa path that people have the right to use The path is not a public right of way.
Examples from the Corpus
right of way• But the path along the river is a right of way, and there's only a token wire in between.• The boats averaged four to six miles an hour, and had right of way over cargo boats on the canal.• Private property - no right of way.• Such roads may or may not be subject to a public right of way or rights of way to specific landowners.• They should be designed with the needs of cycle traffic in mind and should normally have the right of way at crossroads.• Once she was brought down, we would negotiate the right of way.have the right of way• They should be designed with the needs of cycle traffic in mind and should normally have the right of way at crossroads.• If this happens then the parents have the right of way, so to speak.public right of way• Such roads may or may not be subject to a public right of way or rights of way to specific landowners.From Longman Business Dictionaryright of wayˌright of ˈway noun (plural rights of way) [countable, uncountable]LAWPROPERTY the legal right to pass across land that does not belong to youThe court said California must pay compensation in exchange for a public right of way over beachfront property. 