High road

[nyggus]

"There came a soldier marching along the high road..." (H.C. Andersen, The Tinder-Box).

What does this "high road" mean here? I mean, what kind of road can it be, taking into account how long time ago the sentence was written?

Thanks,
Nyggus

[mykwyner]

It would be a road that is not in a valley, it follows the crest of a hill.

[Buddhaheart]

A main road or highway.

[Naamplao]

A main road or highway.

From the little bit of a sentence you have given us, perhaps there were two roads one above the other....say on a hill. The soldier was on the top road.

"High street" in British English means main street of a town. I don't know if high road means anything like that.

"To take the high road" is an idiom meaning to do something that is morally correct or beyond reproach, but I don't think this is meant here.

[nyggus]

From the little bit of a sentence you have given us, perhaps there were two roads one above the other....say on a hill. The soldier was on the top road.

"High street" in British English means main street of a town. I don't know if high road means anything like that.

"To take the high road" is an idiom meaning to do something that is morally correct or beyond reproach, but I don't think this is meant here.

The point is the context does not help. I don't know whether there is any hill there or maybe this is a main road. The context says nothing about such stuff...

[Anglika]

"High road" [synonymous with "Highway]
• noun 1 a main road

We would automatically take it that the soldier is marching along the main road to somewhere.