See Also: station(2)(dictionary)
Station(health)
way station(dictionary)
station(1)(dictionary)
station(medicine)
gas station(dictionary)
bus station(dictionary)
hill station(dictionary)
fire station(dictionary)
tracking station(dictionary)

station(1) (iou)



station noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French from Latin statio(n-), from sta- base of stare STAND verb: see -ION.]
I. Position, place.
A person's position in life as determined by outward circumstances or conditions; one's status; spec. a calling, an office, one's employment. Now rare. ME.
Dickens It is their station to work.
b. Position in the social scale; spec. elevated position, high social rank. L17.
L. Whistler Everything..that a Victorian miss of her station could be expected to do. Times He gets ideas above his station.
a. A place etc. in which a thing stands or is appointed to stand. Now rare. LME.
Sir W. Scott Groups of alder-trees..had maintained their stations in the..valley.
b. fig. A standing-place or position in a class, scale, ranking, etc.; a level. E17.
c. Botany & Zoology. The environment to which an animal or a plant is adapted; a habitat. Now rare or obsolete. E18.
d. Chiefly Botany. A particular site in which a species, esp. an interesting or uncommon one, is found. E19.
Nautical.
a. More fully naval station. Orig., a port, a harbour. Now, a place where naval ships are regularly stationed. LME.
b. A place or region to which a government ship or fleet is assigned for duty. Also (rare), the period of this assignation. M17.
Times She was fit for service on the Australasian Station.
A place etc. where a person stands or is located, esp. habitually or for a purpose. M16.
Browning Can there be a lovelier station than this spot where now we stand? C. S. Forester Hornblower was at his station at the starboard quarter-deck carronades.
b. The locality to which an official is appointed to perform his or her duties. M17.
c. The position in boat-racing (at one or other side of the river) occupied by a competing crew at starting. M19.
Surveying. Each of various selected points at which observations, measurements, etc., are taken. L16.
Military.
a. A place where soldiers are garrisoned, a military post. E17.
b. Hist. In India, a place where British officials, esp. the officers of a garrison, resided; the inhabitants of such a place. M19.
J. G. Farrell Chapatis were appearing..in stations all over northern India.
c. An airfield where personnel are employed or garrisoned. E20.
a. A pioneer settlement. US. L17.
b. A large sheep or cattle farm. Austral. & NZ. E19.
American Poetry Review Grazing cattle on a station large as Cornwall.
a. A designated place or establishment set up with personnel and apparatus for a particular purpose, as industrial work, scientific research, etc. E19.
Standard Establish a wireless telegraph station at Barfleur. Lyndon B. Johnson We can build an Antarctica-type station on the moon. Daily Telegraph A pulse of ultrasound is sent..to a receiving station on the opposite bank.
b. A permanent establishment of missionaries in a country; a mission. M19.
c. A police-station. L19.
d. A subsidiary post office. US. L19.
e. A broadcasting establishment; an organization transmitting radio or television signals. E20.
radio station, television station, etc.
Which? Fine tuning control can make separating stations easier on the crowded short wave band.
f. A location in an automated system (e.g. for data processing or a manufacturing process) where a particular operation takes place. M20.
g. The headquarters of an intelligence service. colloq. L20.
II. Ecclesiastical.
a. Hist. Each of a number of holy places visited in fixed succession by pilgrims; esp. any of several Roman churches at which special services were held on prescribed days. Also, a visit to such a holy place. ME.
b. A special service in a holy place; esp. (Hist.) one attended by the clergy of Rome at any of several churches in the city, each of which had its fixed day in the year for celebration. LME.
W. Reeves A holy well where Roman Catholics of old held stations at midsummer.
(Also Station.) More fully Station of the Cross. Each of a series of usu. fourteen images or pictures representing successive incidents of Christ's passion, usu. located in a church and visited for devotions; each of these devotions. M16.
M. B. Saunders She would follow the Stations of the Cross..and lean longer over her kneeler.
Hist. A bi-weekly fast observed on Wednesdays and Fridays. M17.
III. Action or condition of standing.
Astronomy & Astrology. = STATIONARY point. LME.
The action or posture of standing on the feet; manner of standing. Now rare. E16.
The condition or fact of standing still; assumption of or continuance in a stationary condition. Also, a halt, a stand. Now rare. E17.
IV. A stopping-place.
Hist. A stopping-place on a journey; a temporary resting-place when travelling. L16.
A regular public-transport stopping-place usu. with associated administrative buildings, esp. on a railway line (more fully railway station), for taking up and setting down passengers or goods; spec. such a place at the beginning or end of a journey, a terminus. Also, the administrative buildings associated with such a place. L18.
P. Theroux The station was small..just about room for all of us on the platform. B. Vine The Norwich express..roared past and the whole station shook.
Phrases: bus station, coach station a centre, usu. in a town, where esp. long-distance buses and coaches depart and arrive. go for one's stations, go for the stations Ecclesiastical perform successive prescribed acts of devotion at certain holy places, or at the Stations of the Cross. keep one's station, keep station keep one's place or proper position, esp. relative to another. make one's stations, make the stations Ecclesiastical = go for one's stations above. naval station: see sense 3a above. on station (esp. of a vessel) near or at a specific station or place of assignment. perform one's stations, perform the stations Ecclesiastical = go for one's stations above. railway station: see sense 16 above. Station of the Cross: see sense 10 above. stock and station: see STOCK noun1. take station, take up station take up one's proper or assigned position. TRIGONOMETRICAL station.
Comb.: station agent (a) (chiefly US) a person in charge of a stagecoach or railway station; (b) a person working for an intelligence service; station-bill Nautical a list showing the prescribed stations of a ship's crew for various drills or in an emergency; station break N. Amer. a break between items on a radio or television station, esp. for announcements or advertising; station-day Ecclesiastical History (a) a day on which a station or special service occurred; (b) a day on which a bi-weekly fast occurred; station-distance Surveying the distance between stations; station hand Austral. & NZ a worker on a sheep or cattle station; station head the chief of an intelligence service headquarters; station hospital: attached to a military station; station house (a) (chiefly US) a police station; a lock-up adjoining a police station; (b) a railway station; esp. a small country station; (c) Austral. & NZ the house belonging to a sheep or cattle station; station-keeping Nautical the maintenance of one's proper relative position in a moving body of ships etc.; station-line (a) Drawing a vertical line representing the vertical plane between the point of station and the vanishing point; (b) Surveying a line between stations, from which distances, angles, etc., are measured; stationman (a) a platform attendant, porter, etc., on the railway or underground; (b) = station hand above; stationmaster the official in charge of a railway station; stationmistress a female stationmaster; station-point (a) Drawing = point of station (c) s.v. POINT noun1; (b) Surveying a station; a point on a plan corresponding to a station; station pointer Surveying an instrument for positioning the observer relative to three objects of known position; spec. (Nautical) a ship's navigational instrument for fixing one's position on a chart from the angle in the horizontal plane between two land- and sea-marks; station pole, station rod Surveying a sighting pole set up at a station, usu. graduated; station-sergeant the sergeant in charge of a police station; station-sow verb trans. (Horticulture) plant (seeds) singly or in groups at set intervals along a row or drill; station-staff Surveying = station pole above; station-wagon (a) US a horse-drawn covered carriage; a motor vehicle resembling this; (b) an estate car.
stational adjective of or pertaining to a station or stations E17.