path: n. 1. A {bang path} or explicitly routed {{Internet address}};

:path: n. 1. A {bang path} or explicitly routed {{Internet
address}}; a node-by-node specification of a link between two
machines. 2. [UNIX] A filename, fully specified relative to the
root directory (as opposed to relative to the current directory;
the latter is sometimes called a `relative path'). This is also
called a `pathname'. 3. [UNIX and MS-DOS] The `search
path', an environment variable specifying the directories in which
the {shell} (COMMAND.COM, under MS-DOS) should look for commands.
Other, similar constructs abound under UNIX (for example, the
C preprocessor has a `search path' it uses in looking for
`#include' files).
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary