shunpike

American  

[shuhn-pahyk] / ˈʃʌnˌpaɪk /

noun

1. a side road taken instead of a turnpike or expressway to avoid tolls or to travel at a leisurely pace.

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verb (used without object)

shunpiked, shunpiking

1. to drive on a shunpike.

Other Word Forms

• shunpiker noun

Etymology

Origin of shunpike

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; shun + (turn)pike

Example Sentences

Instead of Spanish Revival next door to Polynesian fantasy, we get snide alt-weekly riffing alongside academic theory, punctuated by lots of delightfully shunpike Southern California lore.

From New York Times • Aug. 11, 2020

Yet its riches don’t just belong to English majors or historians, or even all the shunpike travelers who, to this day, refuse to leave home without at least one state guide in the glove compartment.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2020

Had Wallace marched to the end of the shunpike he’d have found himself behind enemy lines, cut off from the rest of the Union army.

From Slate • Mar. 26, 2013

It was the letter Wallace had sent to the commander of the neighboring division at Shiloh, announcing his plans to use the shunpike should trouble arise.

From Slate • Mar. 26, 2013

He wandered about so long and asked so many questions that it was getting dark when he suddenly thought of the shunpike.

From The Captain's Toll-Gate by Stockton, Frank Richard