turnpike

Meaning

Noun

1. 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.
2. A gate or bar set across a road to stop carriages, animals, and sometimes people, until a toll is paid.
3. (Scotland) A winding stairway.
4. A beam filled with spikes to obstruct passage; a cheval de frise.
5. (US) A toll road, especially a toll expressway.
6. A trajectory on a finite time interval that satisfies an optimality criterion which is associated with a cost function.

Verb

To form (a road, etc.) in the manner of a turnpike road, or into a rounded form, as the path of a road.

Synonyms

highway

motorway

🛣️

pike

throughway

thruway

toll road

state highway

expressway

freeway

superhighway

super highway

pike

motorway

🛣️

expressway

thruway

state highway

throughway

superhighway

barrier

freeway

flying bridge

flyover

road

🛣️

roadway

toll gate

viaduct

autoroute

dry bridge

railroad underbridge

railway underbridge

Translations

autosnelweg

🛣️

autostrada

🛣️

autobaan

🛣️

autovía

autoroute

rodovia

vias rápidas

autopista

🛣️

Autobahn

🛣️

autopista

🛣️

snelweg

autostrade

αυτοκινητόδρομος/οδός ταχείας κυκλοφορίας

autoweg

autostrada

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtɜː(ɹ)npaɪk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: turnpyke

In summary

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”).