guidepost

[gahyd-pohst]

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noun

a post, usually mounted on the roadside or at the intersection of two or more roads, bearing a sign for the guidance of travelers.

anything serving as a guide; guideline.

Origin of guidepost

First recorded in 1755–65; guide + post¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for guidepost

notice, emblem, warning, placard, logo, type, proof, flare, lantern, radar, insignia, badge, character, token, cipher, board, ensign, device, representation, mark

Examples from the Web for guidepost

Historical Examples of guidepost

Then they walked to the angle of the roads where the guidepost stood.
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine
General Grant was the guidepost of a victorious war, and a landmark of a magnanimous peace.
The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3
Various
About half a mile from the town a guidepost and two roads, to Edinburgh and Glasgow; we took the left-hand road, to Glasgow.
Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. I (of 2)
Dorothy Wordsworth
All language can achieve is to act as a guidepost to the imagination enabling the reader to recreate the author's insight.
A Preface to Politics
Walter Lippmann

British Dictionary definitions for guidepost

guidepost

noun

a sign on a post by a road indicating directions

a principle or guideline

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for guidepost

also guide-post, 1761, from guide (v.) + post (n.1).