Dictionary

Burma Road en · NOUN

Etymology

From the name of a road in Burma which ran to the frontier with China, built in 1937–1938 by the British in order to circumvent the Japanese blockade of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) during World War II.

Meanings

1. (figuratively) An important military supply route.
   • The Israelis were able to break the stranglehold by bypassing the normal route to Jerusalem through building a “Burma Road” to resupply the city. 2007, Michael Rydelnik, Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict: What the Headlines Haven’t Told You, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 102:
   • Between January 1, 1943, and June 1, 1945, an average of slightly more than 17 trains plied daily between the two termini of the railway. During all this period, it served as the super-Burma Road to Russia. 1947, Raj Narain Gupta, Iran: An Economic Study, page 145:
   • A “Burma Road” for Africa, or, in fact, a pair of “Burma Roads,” may develop from the current improvement of British and Free French roads across Central Africa. 1942 March 9, “New Allied Life Line Across Africa”, in Geographic School Bulletin, volume 21, number 3:

Forms

wikipedia: Second Sino-Japanese War · wikipedia: The Railway Magazine