turnpike
/ˈtɜː(ɹ)npaɪk/
turnpike 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 animals, but admitting a person to pass between the arms.
Noun
turnpike (plural turnpikes)
- A frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of animals, but admitting a person to pass between the arms.
- I moue vpon my axell, like a turne-pike, / Fit my face to the parties, and become / Straight one of them.1626, Ben Jonson, The Staple of News, Act III, Scene 1, Yale Studies in English Vol. 28, New York: Henry Holt, 1905, p. 58
- Synonyms:
- turnstile
- A gate or bar set across a road to stop carriages, animals, and sometimes people, until a toll is paid.
- […] it was rumour’d that an order of the Government was to be issued out, to place Turn-pikes and Barriers on the Road, to prevent Peoples travelling;1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt et al., pp. 9-10
- […] Pope Pelagius, then Bishop of Rome […] thereupon assum'd the Power of opening and shutting Heaven's Gates; and he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here at passing a Turn-pike […]1728, Daniel Defoe, The Political History of the Devil, Part II, ch. 1
- A winding stairway.
- Ramsay stabbed Ruthven accordingly and James lending his assistance they thrust the wounded man down the turnpike by which Ramsay had ascended Voices and steps were now heard advancing upwards and Ramsay knowing the accents called out to sir Thomas Erskine to come up the turnpike stair even to the...1830, Sir Walter Scott, History of Scotland in two volumes Vol II, A AND W GALIGNANI, pages 463-464
- A beam filled with spikes to obstruct passage; a cheval de frise.
- A toll road, especially a toll expressway. In some places the clipped version, pike, is used for roads without tolls.
- Eleven Pair of Mills ſtand within Four Miles of the Place, which bring a great Trade to it: But the Road is by this means ſo continually torn, that it is one of the worſt Turnpikes about London.1769, Daniel Defoe, A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, 7th edition, volume II, page 184
- [T]here is a bundle of pawnbrokers' duplicates, those turnpike tickets on the road of poverty ...1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 11, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- pike
- A trajectory on a finite time interval that satisfies an optimality criterion which is associated with a cost function.
- In the monograph we discuss a number of results concerning turnpike properties in the calculus of variations and optimal control which were obtained by the author in the last ten years.2006, Alexander J. Zaslavski, Turnpike Properties in the Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control, →ISBN
Verb
turnpike (third-person singular simple present turnpikes, present participle turnpiking, simple past and past participle turnpiked)
turnpike meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
turnpike in Hindi
- टर्नपाइक
turnpike in Tamil
- சுங்கச்சாவடி
turnpike in Marathi
- टर्नपाइक, टर्नपाईक, टर्नपाइक करण्यासाठी
turnpike in Urdu
- ٹرن پائیک, ٹرنپائیک
More languagesFewer languages
- turnpike in Bengali
- টার্নপাইক, টর্নপাইক, টার্নপিক
- turnpike in Telugu
- టర్న్పైక్, టర్న్పైక్కు
- turnpike in Malayalam
- ടേൺപൈക്ക്, ടർൺപൈക്ക്, ടാർൺപൈക്ക്
- turnpike in Kannada
- ದಾಟುಸುಂಕದೆಡೆ
- turnpike in Punjabi
- ਟਰਨਪਾਇਕ, ਟਰਨਪਾਈਕ, ਟਰਨਪਾਇਕ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- turnpike in Gujarati
- ટર્નપાઇક, ટર્નપાઈક, ટર્નપાયક
- turnpike in Odia
- ଟର୍ଣ୍ଣପାଇକ୍, ଟର୍ନ୍ପାଇକ୍, ଟର୍ଣ୍ଣପାଇକ
- turnpike in Nepali
- टर्नपाइक, टर्नपिक, टर्नपाइक गर्न
- turnpike in Indonesian
- jalan tol
Synonyms of turnpike
Forms of turnpike
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | turnpikes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | turnpikes |
| present participle | turnpiking |
| past participle | turnpiked |
| past | turnpiked |
Origin of turnpike
From Middle English turnpyke (“spiked barrier across a road”), originally used to block access to such a road until a toll was paid. Equivalent to modern turn + pike (“shaft”).
Words formed from turnpike
Phrases with turnpike
Questions about turnpike
- What does turnpike mean?
- Turnpike means a frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of animals, but admitting a person to pass between the arms.
- What is turnpike in Hindi?
- Turnpike in Hindi is टर्नपाइक. See Turnpike meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is turnpike?
- Turnpike can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce turnpike?
- Turnpike is pronounced /ˈtɜː(ɹ)npaɪk/.
- What is the plural of turnpike?
- The plural of turnpike is turnpikes.
Words near turnpike in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: turnpike (page history and authors); turnpike (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); turnpike (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); turnpike (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); turnpike (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-turnpike.wav.
Cite this entry: “turnpike.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turnpike. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.