Etymology From one + way. First attested in 1906 in reference to one-way tickets; 1914 in reference to one-way streets; 1940 in reference to one-way mirrors.
1
Allowing movement, vision, etc. in only one direction; unidirectional.
one-way mirror
The town centre is now a system of one-way streets.
1 more example
Traditional feedback collection through pen-and-paper questionnaires and oral reports usually only supplies one-way feedback, from student to teacher.2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1087:
2
Allowing travel in only one direction.
I bought a one-way ticket to Leeds.
3
Computer, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Science, Sciences Of a function: easy to compute for every input, but hard to invert given the image of a random input.
Etymology From one + way. First attested in 1906 in reference to one-way tickets; 1914 in reference to one-way streets; 1940 in reference to one-way mirrors.
1
Agriculture, Business, Lifestyle To use a disc harrow to turn the soil and kill weeds, in preparation for planting seeds.
Over a period of 10 years, the average yield under stubble-mulch tillage has been 10 percent greater than under one-waying with continuous wheat, and 14 percent greater than under one-waying with wheat on fallow.1935, Report of the Chief of the Soil Conservation Service, page 58:
one-way
noun
Etymology From one + way. First attested in 1906 in reference to one-way tickets; 1914 in reference to one-way streets; 1940 in reference to one-way mirrors.