parting of the ways
The point where a road or path divides; a fork.
They stood undecided at a parting of the ways, where a forest path forked.
A time or place where a choice must be made; a deciding point.
He had come to a parting of the ways: he had to choose the high school courses that would prepare him for college, or the courses that would prepare him for business.
pass away
To slip by; go by; pass.
We had so much fun that the weekend passed away before we realized it.
Forty years had passed away since they had met.
To cease to exist; end; disappear; vanish.
When automobiles became popular, the use of the horse and buggy passed away.
To have your life stop; die.
He passed away at eighty.
pave the way
To make preparation; make easy.
Aviation paved the way for space travel.
A good education paves the way to success.
pay one's way
To pay in cash or labor for your expenses.
He paid his way by acting as a guide.
To be profitable; earn as much as you cost someone; be valuable to an employer; to yield a return above expenses.
The bigger truck paid its way from the start.
We had to offer our new manager a large salary, but he was a capable man, and paid his way.
peg away
plug away
To work methodically, industriously, or steadily.
Thomson pegged away for years at a shoe repair business.
Jones kept pegging away, and finally recognition came.
pick one's way
To go ahead carefully in difficult or unfamiliar places; advance with care.
After nightfall we drove slowly along, picking our way until we found the right turn.
He picked his way across the rough and rocky hillside.
pine away
To waste away with grief.
After George was sent abroad, his wife pined away for him so much that she became ill.
pound away at
To attack; criticize.
In his campaign speeches the candidate kept pounding away at the administration's foreign policy.
To work industriously.
Mike was pounding away at the foundation of his new house with shovels and pickaxes.