Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A toll road, especially an expressway with tollgates.
  • noun A tollgate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A frame of pikes or pointed bars, a kind of revolving cheval-de-frise, set in a narrow passage to obstruct the progress of an enemy.
  • noun A turnstile.
  • noun A gate set across a road, in order to stop carriages, wagons, etc., and sometimes foot-travelers, till toll is paid; a toll-bar; a toll-gate.
  • noun A turnpike road.
  • noun A turnpike-stair.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of beasts, but admitting a person to pass between the arms; a turnstile. See turnstile, 1.
  • noun A gate or bar set across a road to stop carriages, animals, and sometimes people, till toll is paid for keeping the road in repair; a tollgate.
  • noun A turnpike road.
  • noun Scot. A winding stairway.
  • noun (Mil.), rare A beam filled with spikes to obstruct passage; a cheval-de-frise.
  • noun a man who collects tolls at a turnpike.
  • noun a road on which turnpikes, or tollgates, are established by law, in order to collect from the users tolls to defray the cost of building, repairing, etc.
  • transitive verb To form, as a road, in the manner of a turnpike road; to throw into a rounded form, as the path of a road.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US A toll road, especially a toll expressway.
  • noun A road formerly a toll road.
  • verb To form (a road, etc.) in the manner of a turnpike road; into a rounded form, as the path of a road.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (from 16th to 19th centuries) gates set across a road to prevent passage until a toll had been paid
  • noun an expressway on which tolls are collected

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English turnepike, spiked barrier : turnen, to turn; see turn + pike, sharp point; see pike.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English turnpyke ("spiked barrier across a road").

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