Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Turnpike?

\Turn"pike`\, n. [Turn + pike.] 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 beasts, but admitting a person to pass between the arms; a turnstile. See {Turnstile}, 1. I move upon my axle like a turnpike. --B. Jonson. 2. A gate or bar set across a road to stop carriages, animals, and sometimes people, till toll is paid for keeping the road in repair; a tollgate. 3. A turnpike road. --De Foe. 4. A winding stairway. [Scot.] --Sir W. Scott. 5. (Mil.) A beam filled with spikes to obstruct passage; a cheval-de-frise. [R.] {Turnpike man}, a man who collects tolls at a turnpike. {Turnpike road}, a road on which turnpikes, or tollgates, are established by law, in order to collect from the users tolls to defray the cost of building, repairing, etc.
\Turn"pike`\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Turnpiked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Turnpiking}.] To form, as a road, in the manner of a turnpike road; into a rounded form, as the path of a road. --Knowles.