-way

suffix = -WAYS.

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\\ˌwāfl>adverb suffix\

Etymology: Middle English, from way (I)

: in (such) a way, course, direction, or manner

broadway

lyraway

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suffix equivalent to -ways

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-way

(weɪ)

as a terminal element of advs., is identical with way n.¹

1. Phrases consisting of the n. qualified by an adj. are often used adverbially (see way n.¹ 8, 14 d, etc.), and some of the combinations of adj. and n. thus used have come to be apprehended as single words, and so pronounced and written; the second element, losing its separate stress, has assumed in some degree the aspect of an adverbial suffix. The only early example of this process is the OE. ealne weᵹ, an adverbial accusative, which after the disappearance (in the 14th c.) of adjectival flexion became alway (q.v. for the development of meaning). Anyway, everyway, noway, someway, written as single words, are not found before the 16th c. The only advs. in -way f. descriptive adjs. are broadway (16th c.), crossway (early 17th c.), straightway (as two words in 15th c.; as one word from 1530). Most of the above-mentioned advs. have parallel and synonymous forms in -ways.

2. The few advs. f. n. + -way do not originate from phrases, but are genuine compounds; they all have parallel forms in -ways. † Needway ‘necessarily’ occurs in Barbour c 1375 (needways in Cursor M. a 1300). Edgeway, endway, sideway, sunway, which denote direction of movement, are, like the corresponding forms in -ways, not older than the 16th century.

3. Crossway and sideway are frequently used as adjs.; the other advs. in -way expressing spatial direction would perhaps admit of a similar use, but it is not evidenced in our quotations.