turnpike

[ turn-pahyk ]

See synonyms for turnpike on Thesaurus.com

noun

a high-speed highway, especially one maintained by tolls.
(formerly) a barrier set across such a highway to stop passage until a toll has been paid; tollgate.

Origin of turnpike

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English turnepike “road barrier” (in def. 1, short for turnpike road). See turn, pike²

Words Nearby turnpike

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use turnpike in a sentence

We are driving down the New Jersey turnpike on a raw Sunday morning in March.
When An Adopted Child Won’t Attach | Tina Traster | May 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
He was heading toward home on the Pennsylvania turnpike when he found himself pulling over.
Central Park’s Carriages Saved This Horse | Michael Daly | April 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Jersey turnpike (v.)—to perform a dance move in which one jams his/her rear end against a man's crotch and then bends over.
The Real Jersey Dictionary, Vol. 3 | Jaimie Etkin | March 24, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
In the "good old coaching days" the turnpike tolls paid on a coach running daily from here to London amounted to £1,428 per year.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham | Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
The place was a field, the first beyond the turnpike gate, and within a mile of the city.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. | Various

A country girl, riding by a turnpike-road without paying toll, the gate-keeper hailed her and demanded his fee.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | Various
Sixty, nay fifty, years ago, there were six toll-houses and turnpike bars between London and Portsmouth.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. Harper
Chicot stopped at a turnpike, and asked the man if he had seen three travelers pass on mules.
Chicot the Jester | Alexandre Dumas, Pere

British Dictionary definitions for turnpike

turnpike

/ (ˈtɜːnˌpaɪk) /

noun

(between the mid-16th and late 19th centuries)
- gates or some other barrier set across a road to prevent passage until a toll had been paid
- a road on which a turnpike was operated
an obsolete word for turnstile (def. 1)

US a motorway for use of which a toll is charged

Origin of turnpike

C15: from turn + pike ²

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

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