one-way

Meaning

Adj

1. Allowing movement in only one direction; unidirectional.
2. Allowing travel in only one direction.
3. Of a function: easy to compute for every input, but hard to invert given the image of a random input.

Verb

To use a disc harrow to turn the soil and kill weeds, in preparation for planting seeds.

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.

Sentences

A classic example of a one-way function is multiplication of very large prime numbers .