Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A place or position where a person or thing stands or is assigned to stand; a post.
  • noun An area where a person is assigned to work.
  • noun The place, building, or establishment from which a service is provided or operations are directed.
  • noun A stopping place along a route, especially a stop for refueling or for taking on passengers; a depot.
  • noun Australian & New Zealand A large ranch on which livestock, especially cattle or sheep, are raised.
  • noun Social position; rank.
  • noun An establishment equipped for observation and study.
  • noun An establishment equipped for radio or television transmission.
  • noun One that broadcasts radio or television transmissions.
  • noun A frequency assigned to a broadcaster.
  • noun An input or output point along a communications system.
  • noun A precise point from which measurements in surveying are made.
  • noun Ecology A sampling location.
  • noun Roman Catholic Church Any of the Stations of the Cross.
  • noun One of a series of holy places visited by pilgrims as a ritual devotion.
  • transitive verb To assign to a position; post.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In phytogeography, the spot at which a plant has been collected or a species has been observed to occur.
  • noun In the Meth. Ch., a single church supplied with a fixed pastor: distinguished from a circuit. See circuit, 9.
  • noun In zoology, the particular district or districts inhabited by a given group of animals. See area.
  • To assign a station or position to: as, to station troops on the right or left of an army; to station a sentinel on a rampart; to station one's self at a door.
  • noun A standing still; a state of rest or inactivity.
  • noun Manner of standing; attitude; pose: rare except in the specific uses.
  • noun Specifically— In medicine, the steadiness (freedom from swaying) with which one stands.
  • noun The manner of standing or the attitude of live stock, particularly of exhibition game fowls: as, a duckwing game-cock of standard high station.
  • noun The spot or place where anything habitually stands or exists; particularly, the place to which a person is appointed and which he occupies for the performance of some duty; assigned post: as, a life-boat station; an observing-station; the station of a sentinel; the several stations of the officers and crew of a ship when the fire-signal is sounded.
  • noun The place where the police force of any district is assembled when not on duty; a district or branch police office. See police station, under police.
  • noun The place where the British officers of a district in India, or the officers of a garrison, reside; also, the aggregate of society in such a place: as, to ask the station to dinner.
  • noun The condition or position of an animal or a plant in its habitat, or its relation to its environment: often used synonymously with habitat (but habitat is simply the place where an animal or plant lives, station the condition under which it lives there).
  • noun In surveying: The place selected for planting the instrument with which an observation is to be made. A regular stopping-place.
  • noun Eccles.: In the early church, an assembly of the faithful in the church, especially for the celebration of the eucharist.
  • noun The fast and service on Wednesday and Friday (except between Easter and Pentecost), in memory of the council which condemned Christ, and of his passion.
  • noun Among Roman Catholics, a church where indulgences are to be obtained on certain days.
  • noun Situation; position.
  • noun Status; rank; standing; specifically, rank or standing in life; social state or position; condition of life; hence, high rank or standing.
  • noun In mining, an enlargement made in a shaft, level, or gangway to receive a pump, bob, tank, or machinery of any kind.
  • noun Synonyms . See depot.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To place; to set; to appoint or assign to the occupation of a post, place, or office.
  • noun rare The act of standing; also, attitude or pose in standing; posture.
  • noun obsolete A state of standing or rest; equilibrium.
  • noun The spot or place where anything stands, especially where a person or thing habitually stands, or is appointed to remain for a time.
  • noun A regular stopping place in a stage road or route; a place where railroad trains regularly come to a stand, for the convenience of passengers, taking in fuel, moving freight, etc.
  • noun The headquarters of the police force of any precinct.
  • noun The place at which an instrument is planted, or observations are made, as in surveying.
  • noun (Biol.) The particular place, or kind of situation, in which a species naturally occurs; a habitat.
  • noun (Naut.) A place to which ships may resort, and where they may anchor safely.
  • noun A place or region to which a government ship or fleet is assigned for duty.
  • noun (Mil.) A place calculated for the rendezvous of troops, or for the distribution of them; also, a spot well adapted for offensive or defensive measures.
  • noun (Mining) An enlargement in a shaft or galley, used as a landing, or passing place, or for the accommodation of a pump, tank, etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English stacioun, from Old French station, from Latin statiō, statiōn-; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English estacioun, from Anglo-Norman estation, from Latin statiōnem, accusative of statiō ("standing, post, job, position").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word station.

Examples

  • I could agree to one thing: if you computed trends per station that is: a trend for *each station* and if the station bias was constant over time – then the bias would not affect the trend.

    A Second Look at USHCN Classification « Climate Audit 2007

  • Response:I've included an image here of the relative location of the station (red arrow) and where Steve showed the fictitious “airport asos station” (green arrow).

    Tucson Then and Now « Climate Audit 2007

  • At Harrow, the District Railway built its station in Roxeth and named it South Harrow, while in the hamlet of Hooking Green the Metropolitan Railway called its ­station North Harrow.

    The Guardian World News 2010

  • Unlike other automakers, Fisker even uses the term "station wagon" to describe it, clearly not shying away from any stigma that might have.

    FOXNews.com [email protected] 2011

  • Unlike other automakers, Fisker even uses the term "station wagon" to describe it, clearly not shying away from any stigma that might have.

    FOXNews.com [email protected] 2011

  • Despite that, I still think the Tottori confession at the train station from the anime was so much better.

    Honey and Clover J-drama – ep 10 « Undercover 2008

  • The train station is normally an half hour away, but with traffic being extra heavy, it took a full hour and a half.

    MindTrap Friday 2008

  • The closest I got to Science Fiction was travelling to Birmingham on a busy weekend, walking down to street level from out of the shopping centre that the train station is encased in, deep into a busy bottlenecked crowd that felt like …

    Planet-x.com.au » American Surburbia In The Eighties, Science Fiction And Growing Up … 2008

  • In space a station is required to maintain order, while a side organization supplies that station from the moon, while other corporations operate shuttle and repair services to satellites and allowing Naval facility on the moon to operate the mini-three man ships to reach orbit with levelled operations which reach orbit and the moon.

    Obama, McCain talk 2008

  • In addition to the subway, like the airport, the train station is always a great place to people watch as well.

    Stream of Consciousness from an Airport 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

OSZAR »