Jaywalked

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To traverse a street while failing to observe traffic laws or signals To walk across a road in a manner that violates traffic regulations and pedestrian safety measures To cross an intersection without following the designated pathways or obeying traffic signs
2. Crossed a street disregarding official crossings or signals, ignoring pedestrian traffic rules
3. Moved across a road in a way that does not comply with lawful pedestrian conduct

Etymology: "Jaywalked" is the past tense of "jaywalk," which English formed by working backward from "jaywalker," the person who did the crossing. The noun came first, and the verb was carved out of it later, so the verb is a back-formation rather than a word built straightforwardly from its parts. The "jay" in the word is the bird's name, and in American English it was used for a foolish or careless person, a sense that goes back to the bird's reputation for being noisy and conspicuously silly. A "jay" was someone who wandered about without regard for what was sensible, so a "jaywalker" was a person who strolled into traffic without paying attention to the rules of the road. "Walk" supplies the rest of the picture, so the compound reads literally as a foolish pedestrian.

Synonyms: crossed illegally