What is "road roller"

Road \Road\ (r[=o]), n. [AS. r[=a]d a riding, that on which one rides or travels, a road, fr. r[=i]dan to ride. See Ride, and cf. Raid.]

1. A journey, or stage of a journey. [Obs.]

   With easy roads he came to Leicester.
   --Shak.

2. An inroad; an invasion; a raid. [Obs.]
   --Spenser.

3. A place where one may ride; an open way or public passage for vehicles, persons, and animals; a track for travel, forming a means of communication between one city, town, or place, and another.

   The most villainous house in all the London road.
   --Shak.

   Note: The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street, and lane.

4. [Possibly akin to Icel. rei[eth]i the rigging of a ship, E. ready.] A place where ships may ride at anchor at some distance from the shore; a roadstead; -- often in the plural; as, Hampton Roads.
   --Shak.

   Now strike your saile, ye jolly mariners, For we be come unto a quiet rode [road].
   --Spenser.

   On the road, or Uponthe road, traveling or passing over a road; coming or going; traveling; on the way.

   My hat and wig will soon be here, They are upon the road.
   --Cowper.

   Road agent, a highwayman, especially on the stage routes of the unsettled western parts of the United States; -- a humorous euphemism. [Western U.S.]

   The highway robber -- road agent he is quaintly called.
   --The century.

   Road book, a guidebook in respect to roads and distances.

   road kill See roadkill in the vocabulary.

   Road metal, the broken, stone used in macadamizing roads.

   Road roller, a heavy roller, or combinations of rollers, for making earth, macadam, or concrete roads smooth and compact. -- often driven by steam.

   Road runner (Zo["o]l.), the chaparral cock.

   Road steamer, a locomotive engine adapted to running on common roads.

   To go on the road, to engage in the business of a commercial traveler. [Colloq.]

   To take the road, to begin or engage in traveling.

   To take to the road, to engage in robbery upon the highways.

   Syn: Way; highway; street; lane; pathway; route; passage; course. See Way.

n. A heavy engineering vehicle used to compact asphalt in the construction of roads

n. vehicle equipped with heavy wide smooth rollers for compacting roads and pavements [syn: steamroller]

A road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor, or just roller) is a compactor type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations, similar rollers are used also at landfills or in agriculture.

In some parts of the world, road rollers are still known colloquially as steam rollers, regardless of their method of propulsion. This typically only applies to the largest examples (used for road-making).