| 释义 |
▪ I. station, n.|ˈsteɪʃən|
Forms: 4–6 stacio(u)n, 5 stacon, stacyoun, stasyon, 5–6 stacyon, 6 statyon, 6– station.
[a. F. station (12th c.) ad. L. statiōn-em, noun of action f. sta-, stāre to stand. Cf. Sp. estacion, Pg. estação, It. stazione, and the popular form It. stagione season.]
I. Action or condition of standing.
1. The action or posture of standing on the feet; manner of standing. Now only in scientific and technical uses: see quots. 1891 and 1913.
bipedal station, quadrupedal station (Zool.) [= F. station bipède, quadrupède]: the having two or four feet respectively.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 65 These cerimonyes that this doctour calleth but small thynges, I suppose they be as stacyons, inclynacyons, gestures..& suche other. 1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. ii. v, If [she be] reguardant, then maintaine your station,..shew the supple motion of your pliant bodie. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 58 A Station, like the Herald Mercurie New lighted on a heauen kissing hill. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. xxi. 234 Nature..allowes us two feet for the firmer station. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon i. iii. 20 The quadrupedal station. 1891Century Dict., Station,..the manner of standing or the attitude of live stock, particularly of exhibition game fowls: as, a duck⁓wing game-cock of standard high station. 1913Dorland Med. Dict. (ed. 7) 901 Station, the manner of standing; in ataxic conditions it is sometimes pathognomonic.
2. The condition or fact of standing still; assumption of or continuance in a stationary condition: opposed to motion. Now rare.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. iii. 22 Her motion, and her station are as one. She shewes a body, rather then a life. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xi. §1 (1622) 310 The vacuity of both Heauinesse and Lightnesse..is rather the principle of station, then of Motion. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. 32 The natural motion of the Sun made them more admire him, than its supernatural station did the Children of Israel. 1658Owen Temptation iii. 53 If it [peace] be lost for a season, it may be obtained againe; I will not solicite its station any more;..and a thousand such pleas there are. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. xiii. iv. (1687) 910/1 That Pleasure, wherein Felicity consists, is of the first kind, the stable, or that which is in station. 1841Emerson Ess., Compensation 122 His life is a progress, and not a station.
3. A halt; a stand. Now rare or Obs.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xxiv. 394 Presently they went from thence with like diligence, to go to a place..where they made their second station. 1609J. Davies Holy Roode F 3 b, But now, my Soule, here let vs make a Station, To view perspicuously this sad aspect. 1657Heylin Eccl. Vind. ii. ii. 117 A portable Temple..which might be carried and removed, according to the stations and removes of Israel. 1845J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific viii. 100 After having enjoyed my first station here, I prepared my morning meal of terrapin,..and..I again commenced my march.
†4.
a. An act of a pageant or a mystery play. Obs.
1474Cov. Leet. Bk. 391 And at Babulake yate there ordeyned a stacion, therin beyng kyng Richard with xiij other arrayed lyke as Dukes, Markises, Erles [etc.]. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 155 Fynally of this stacon thus we mak a conclusyon.
†b. In Ireland: Some municipal ceremony. Obs.
[1560: see station-day in 29.]
5. Astr. The apparent standing still of a planet at its apogee and perigee.
1412–20Lydg. Troy-bk. iv. 3366 Whan þe shene sonne In þe Crabbe had his cours I-ronne To þe hiȝest of his ascencioun, Whiche called is þe somer stacioun. 1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 279 The progression, retrogradation, and station of the Planetes. 1647Cudworth Serm. 1 John ii. 3–4. 56 Those upper Planets in the Heaven..have their Stations and Retrogradations, as well as their Direct Motions. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 563 The Planets in thir stations list'ning stood. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Points of Station, in Astronomy, are those Degrees of the Zodiack, in which a Planet seems to stand quite still, and not to move at all. 1812Woodhouse Astron. xxiii. 249 In speaking of the stations and retrogradations of the planets. 1819J. Wilson Dict. Astrol. 379 Stations, those parts in the orbit of a planet where it becomes either retrograde or direct, because it remains for a while there stationary before it changes its course.
†6. Path. The stationary point, crisis, a height (of a disease). Cf. state n. 7, status 1. Obs.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 437 Of the times of diseases, of the beginning, lesse considerable injury of action... In the augmentation worse... In the station worst... In the declination better.
II. Standing-place, position.
* In literal applications.
7. a. A place to stand in; esp. a position assigned to a man on duty, or in games.
1556N. Smyth Herodian i. 10 b, Yea, and the footemen whyche had stations within the cyte, came to rescue the people againste the horsemen. 1601Mountjoy in Moryson's Itin. (1617) ii. 157 The weather is so extreme, that many times we bring our Sentinels dead from the stations. 1607Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 231 Seld-showne Flamins Doe presse among the popular Throngs and puffe To winne a vulgar station. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 136 Able Seconds at Tennis play, placed in their proper stations. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 251 Armed men stood round about in the Station, at the top of the Mast. 1679M. Rusden Further Discov. Bees 93 Every particular Bee taketh notice of his Station. a1700Evelyn Diary 29 Jan. 1689, I got a station..at the doore of the lobby to the House, and heard much of the debate. 1760–2Goldsm. Cit. W. lix, I placed my self on my former station in hopes of a repeated visit. 1784Cowper Task ii. 624 A man o' th' town dines late, but soon enough..T'ensure a side⁓box station at half price. 1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1902) 11 The..description of their different stations in the field, and of the importance of each in his station, will convince the young practitioner that [etc.]. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk s.v., In most merchantmen the cry of ‘Every man to his station, and the cook to the fore-sheet’, is calling the hands and the idlers. Ibid., Stations for Stays! repair to your posts to tack ship.
In fig. context.1609Daniel Civ. Wars viii. civ, It were a Cowards part, to fly Now from my Holde,..It be'ing the Station of my life, where I Am set to serue, and stand as Sentinell. a1669Denham Cato Major, Of Old Age iv. 79 Pythagoras bids us in our station stand, Till God, our general, shall us disband.
b. Phrases, to take (up), keep (one's) station, on station.
1667Milton P.L. xii. Argt., The Cherubim taking their Stations to guard the Place. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. iv. 91 They kept their station for a while. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, They took their station under a balcony that overhung the lattice. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlvi, Even when she..sat pensively waiting for their friend, she took her station where she could still look upon them. 1849Helps Friends in C. ii. i. (1854) I. 258 A gorgeous peacock that took his station on the low wall bounding the lawn. 1882E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis xliv. II. 249 One of our companions took his station as sentinel upon the tomb of the little mosque. 1923Man. Seamanship (Admiralty) (ed. 2) II. x. 176 The leading ship should therefore at once reduce speed, even though the other is keeping station on her. 1939War Illustr. 2 Dec. 372/3 The absolute necessity of maintaining the order in which their ships are placed in the convoy, i.e. to keep station, and not to alter course except at the order of the commodore of the convoy. 1972Lebende Sprachen XVII. 149/1 On station, the status of an ocean station vessel when within the limits of the assigned ocean station. 1979Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 1 Jan. 15/4 Quentin Fogarty managed to get film on the return flight of a large glowing orange object keeping station with the aircraft about 8 km away. 1982Times 31 Mar. 4/4 HMS Endurance will remain on station as long as is necessary.
c. A point at which one stands or may stand to obtain a view.
1822‘Barry Cornwall’ Poems, Flood of Thessaly i. 138 From that high station Jove doth watch the world Its happiness and woe. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872) I. 50 Seven different views of the city, from as many stations. 1872Jenkinson Engl. Lake Distr. (1879) 13 The three best stations are, at the foot of the lake, on its eastern side, and from near Tarn Hows. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 11 Can there be a lovelier station than this spot where now we stand?
d. In wider sense: Position occupied (in other postures than standing). rare.
1667K. Philips Lucasia & Rosania Poems 127 I'd dwell within thine arms Could I my station chuse. 1770W. Shirley Hymn, ‘Sweet the Moments’, Truly blessed is this station, Low before his cross to lie. 1822Scott Nigel xii, The two friends, being seated in the most honourable station at the board.
e. Boat-racing. The position (at one side or the other of the river) occupied by a competing crew at starting.
1864Field 2 July 2/1 The Oxford boat had the better station, and twice led by a length. 1868Ibid. 4 July 14/3 University had the best or Berkshire station. Ibid., A change of station might have altered the result.
f. The correct position of a vessel in a squadron. (Cf. station-keeping in 29.)
1911Webster.
8. Surveying, etc. Each of the selected points at which observations are taken. Formerly also † place, point of station.
1571Digges Pantometria i. xvii. E iv, And thus proceede from station to station. Ibid. i. xxv. H j, A the toppe of the hill, B the foote, C my station or the place of mine eie. 1590Blagrave Baculum Fam. xviii. 27 Marke that station on the ground... Then measure exactly the distance betweene those two stations. 1610Hopton Baculum Geodæt. iii. vii. 68 Appoint thy first station, and there place thy staffe, and take the angle of altitude, [etc.]. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 118 Station, is the Place where the Level is set for performing the Work of Leveling, so that one Cast of the Level is contained between two Stations. 1774M. Mackenzie Marit. Surv. 19 Draw out the Line C D, and it will cut the Circle in S, the Point of Station required. c1791Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VII. 674/2 Drawn from two points A and B, to the place of station C. 1875Encycl. Brit. III. 387 s.v. Barometer, The heights read off from the pressures should be corrected for observations of temperature carefully taken at the upper and lower stations. 1880L. D'A. Jackson Aids Surv.-Pract. 112 A base line is measured,..and a network of triangles conveniently arranged by choosing suitable positions for stations.
9. a. The place in which a thing stands or is appointed to stand. Now rare or Obs.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. xiii. 18 Vlpike and oynouns in their stacioun To growe. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 11 The gunwayle, stations for the nettings, a chaine through the stations, or brest-ropes. 1669J. Rose Eng. Vineyard Vind. (1675) 25 This will likewise maintain them cold and fresh in summer, till they have struck and taken hold of their stations. 1687Dryden Song St. Cecilia's Day 9 Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry, In order to their Stations leap, And Musick's pow'r obey. 1693Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard., Cult. Orange Trees 19 As soon therefore as you bring forth your Trees, and have Rang'd them in the Stations where they are to continue, bestow upon them as plentiful a Watering as [etc.]. a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 78 Whether they were cut out of the Rock,..or whether they were brought, and fix'd in their station like other doors. 1711Addison Spectator No. 98 ⁋5 The Head has the most beautiful Appearance, as well as the highest Station, in a human Figure. 1792Baron Munchausen xii. 39 With this balloon..I played many tricks, such as taking one house from its station, and placing another in its stead. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. ii, Groups of alder-trees..which had maintained their stations in the recesses of the valley.
†b. The height at which the barometer stands.
1666Boyle in Phil. Trans. I. 237 When the Mercury..is either very high, or very low, or at a middle station between its greatest and least height. 1753Scots Mag. XV. 16/2 [Barometer] Common station 30 1/10.
†c. Arith. = place n. 10. Obs.
1709–29V. Mandey Syst. Math., Arith. 17 The Divisor being removed one station, repeat this Process, until all the figures of the Dividend be wasted.
d. Biol. The kind of place in which an animal or a plant is fitted to live, the nature or essential characteristics of its habitat.
1721Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 49 Which is the same case with that which I have mention'd to be natural to Plants, which are each of them confin'd to their several Stations. 1832Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 69 Station indicates the peculiar nature of the locality where each species is accustomed to grow, and has reference to climate, soil, humidity, light, elevation above the sea, and other analogous circumstances; whereas by habitation is meant a general indication of the country where a plant grows wild. 1854Stark Brit. Mosses 59 Giving such explanation of the terms as will..enable the tyro Muscologist,..to assign their proper station and name to the mosses he may pick up. 1871Darwin Desc. Man I. xi. 403 Males and females of the same species of butterfly are known in several cases to inhabit different stations.
e. Shipbuilding. (See quot. 1913.)
1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. ii. 29 An elevation of this Keel is given in Fig. 27... The stations are drawn in dotted lines. 1913Board of Trade Instr. Tonnage Measurement, Rule 13. Points of division of length, or stations of the transverse areas.
10. Naut.
a. More fully naval station. In early use, a port, harbour, or roadstead for ships. In modern use, a place at which ships of the Navy are regularly stationed.
1382Wyclif Gen. xlix. 13 Zabulon in the brynke of the see shal dwelle, and in the stacioun of shippes. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 22 The ruines [of Troy]..are..too neare the navall station to affoord a field for such dispersed encounters. Ibid. 38 At the West end thereof the Grand Signiors Gallies have a dry station. 1656Blount Glossogr., Station, a standing place, a Bay or Rode for ships to rest in. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 608 A large Recess,..A Station safe for Ships, when Tempests roar. a1700Evelyn Diary 10 Sept. 1677, Then we saw the Haven... The tide runs out every day, but the bedding being soft mudd it is safe for shipping and a station. 1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. i. iii. (1743) 15 At Chatham is a Station for the Navy Royal. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 534/1 Portsmouth, a municipal and parliamentary borough, seaport, and naval station of Hampshire.
†b. A place in a harbour for the reception of a vessel. Obs.
1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 561 The Turkish Arsenals for shipping are foure; the first..containeth three and thirty docks or stations for so many Gallies.
c. A place or region to which a government ship or fleet is assigned for duty.
1666in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 350 We shall have but 80 sayle this summer to fight the Dutch, the rest are designed for the western station. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 18 Now we are in our Station, and a good Latitude. 1775Lond. Chron. 14–16 Mar. 254/2 His Majesty's ship Coventry..is under sailing orders for the East Indies, with dispatches for the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's ships on that station. 1813Sir J. Graham in C. S. Parker Life & Lett. (1907) I. 32, I hear from all the captains on the station that there cannot be a more promising youngster. 1912Times 19 Dec. 11/1 She was fit for service on the Australasian Station.
d. The period for which a vessel is appointed to a particular station.
c1784Nelson in Mahan Life (1899) 54 To the end of the station his order was never repealed.
11. Mil.
a. A place where soldiers are garrisoned, a military post.
In the first quot. (tr. L. statio) the body of men garrisoned.
[1382Wyclif 1 Sam. xiii. 23 The stacioun of Philistym wente out [Vulg. egressa est statio Philisthiim]. ]1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xvi. i. 55 Marcellus Generall of the Horse, who abode then but in the next stations, drave off to aid him. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 253 Prince Maurice..built a continuing Station for his Camp. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7) III. 295 Between Hornby Castle and Kirkby-Lonsdale..stands Overborough,..which was a famous Station of Antoninus, called Bremetonacum. 1802C. James Milit. Dict., Post, in war, a military station; any sort of ground, fortified or not, where a body of men can be in a condition of resisting the enemy. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 402/1 Station, Military, a locality chosen for the garrisoning of troops.
b. In India, a place where the English officials of a district, or the officers of a garrison (not in a fortress) resided. Also the aggregate society of such a place. Now Hist.
1848Alfred in India 12 There are also numbers in the civil service, and they reside at what are called stations. 1860W. H. Russell Diary India I. xii. 194 The small and great pecuniary relations between the station and the bazaar. 1866Trevelyan Dawk Bungalow i. in Fraser's Mag. LXXIII. 231 Who asked the Station to dinner, and allowed only one glass of simkin to each guest? 1914in Cornhill Mag. Dec. 811 The ordinary desultory after-dinner conversation of a small mofussil station.
c. Air Force. An aerodrome where personnel are employed or garrisoned.
1911, etc. [see air-station s.v. air n.1 B. III. 7]. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 85/1 At the outbreak of the World War the stations on the organized east coast system of aerial patrol were as follows:—Eastchurch, [etc.]. 1942T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 5, I suppose you came to see someone up at the station. 1977Daily Tel. 7 Nov. 2 The Service's Ground Branch is most seriously affected, with one in three group captains nominated for command making it known at pre-selection stage that they are not interested in taking over their own station.
12. a. The locality to which an official is appointed for the exercise of his functions.
1632Lithgow Trav. iii. 116 Their..Priests are bred here, and from hence dispersed to their seuerall stations. 1667Pepys Diary 14 June, I am glad my station is to be here, near my own home. 1788Massachusetts Spy 31 July 3/2 The 12th of March, Col. James Robertson's son..was killed at a sugar camp, within a few hundred yards of his father's station. 1802J. Benson in J. Macdonald Mem. (1822) 374 We have spent the four last days in preparing a draught of the stations of the Preachers. 1893D. Davidson Mem. Long Life viii. (ed. 2) 198 Tanna was his judicial station.
b. pl. The annual list of appointments of Methodist ministers.
1885Minutes Wesleyan Conf. 43 Each of the places mentioned in these Stations..is the head of a Circuit.
13. a. A place where men are stationed and apparatus set up for some particular kind of industrial work, scientific research, or the like. Often with defining word, as fishing station, seismological station, telegraph station, zoological station.
1823W. Scoresby Jrnl. p. xl, This colony, which subsequently increased to a number of stations, has been continued. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIV. 154/1 Any means of telegraphic communication which depends upon the deciphering of signals exhibited at a distant station is necessarily dependent upon contingencies of weather. 1861L. A. Meredith Over the Straits i. 7 At Maria Island, the rocky hills and other so-called ‘probation-stations’..the prisoners were used in tens and twenties. 1870Huxley in L. Huxley Life & Lett. (1900) I. 332 How glad I shall be to see your plan for ‘Stations’ carried into effect. Nothing could have a greater influence upon the progress of zoology. 1883Goode Fish. Industr. U.S.A. (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) 68 The following is a list of the hatching stations operated by the United States Fish Commission in 1883. 1885W. K. Brooks in Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. III. 367 Their fruitful harvest furnishes one with the earliest evidences of the value of marine zoological stations. 1912Standard 20 Sept. 6/7 It has been decided..to establish a wireless telegraph station at Barfleur. 1913Nature 14 Aug. 610/1 Milne's aim was to secure a great number of seismological stations, scattered as widely as possible over the globe.
b. = police-station.
1889Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Nov. 3/1 Proceeding to Leman-street police station..Mr. Davis found the entrance to the station barricaded with several crossings of red tape. 1901Mary L. Hendee tr. C. Wagner's Simple Life v. 65 The officer, though he finally collar the thief, can only conduct him to the station, not along the right road.
c. Sc. = preaching station.
1904R. Small Hist. U.P. Congreg. II. 402 The station was opened..on the first Sabbath of November.
d. A mission station; a mission (mission n. 6).
1834J. A. Wilson Jrnl. 2 Jan. in Missionary Life & Work in N.Z. (1889) i. 7 We are..satisfied with the central position of the station. The large tribes are within a circle of twenty miles. 1851H. R. Richmond Jrnl. in Richmond-Atkinson Papers (1960) I. ii. 85 On Monday evening we arrived at Mr Ashwell's station at Tukapoto. 1883C. F. Wilder Sister Ridnour's Sacrifice 229 The converts..have been for many weeks at the station. 1923O. Schreiner Thoughts on S. Afr. 16 A minister of the Dutch Reformed Church..came to spend a night at our station. The accommodation of an up-country mission house is limited.
e. U.S. A branch post office.
1896Ann. Rep. U.S. Postmaster General 14 All detail matters relating to the establishment and discontinuance of post offices, the establishment of stations,..would be superintended personally by the district supervisors. 1939J. L. Floherty Make Way for Mail x. 158 Twenty-four sub-postal stations are connected by tube system with the general post office. 1960E. K. Meador Billion Dollar Pork Barrel i. 20, I..was appointed a regular clerk..at the same station where I had been working as a sub-carrier. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Feb. 187/4 (Advt.), P.O. Box 307, Times Square Station, New York.
f. A broadcasting station; an establishment or organization transmitting radio or television signals. Cf. radio station s.v. radio n. 7; television station s.v. television 3 c.
1912: see radio station s.v. radio n. 7. [ 1913Wireless World Apr. 8 (caption) Aden Wireless Station.] 1922Science & Invention Feb. 937/2 We amateurs and experimenters sit by our cozy fireside..and enjoy wireless telephone music sent out by the now famous Westinghouse broadcasting station at Newark, or from one of the dozen other stations. 1923Daily Mail 13 May 8/2 You turn the handle a quarter of an inch, ‘tuning’-in to the Cardiff station. 1944S. S. McKay W. Lee O'Daniel & Texas Politics, 1938–1942 i. 22 In addition to the WBAP programs the Doughboys were taken to Dublin every Wednesday night for a program over a small station there. 1959A. Webster Roots ii. i. 37 She turns the radio on, turning the dial knob through all manner of stations and back again until she finds some very loud dance music. 1969Listener 6 Feb. 177/2 The daily output of all these stations is remarkable considering their limited resources in money, staff and equipment. 1978J. Irving World according to Garp xix. 432 The Vermont station carried the game..from Philadelphia.
g. A location in an automated system (e.g. for data processing or a manufacturing process) where a particular operation takes place.
1948Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation III. 150 The card reading unit is similar to a standard IBM Reproducing Punch, except that a full reading station has been inserted ahead of the punching station. 1949B. L. Davies Technol. Plastics xvii. 317 Each one of a number of moulds is placed at a station round the table and a cam device is provided for opening it and ejecting the moulding automatically as the table rotates. 1976Sci. Amer. Feb. 77 (caption) The three components..are mounted on an underbody shuttle and carried rear end first past five welding stations in sequence.
h. colloq. The headquarters of an intelligence service.
1973A. Mann Tiara vii. 57 Would you ask the station to let me know each day what they hear? 1975N. Luard Robespierre Serial iv. 18 A member of the Paris station, a young cypher clerk. 1978R. Cassilis Winding Sheet i. xiv. 44 He was a good man... A good Head of Station..who hadn't forgotten his tradecraft.
14. Australia and N.Z. (See quot. 1898.)
1822J. Dixon Voyage to N.S.W. 47 There have, how⁓ever, been instances of stock-keepers, at distant stations, having been murdered. 1833C. Sturt S. Australia i. Introd. p. i, They..will only be occupied as distant Stock Stations. 1840Sydney Herald 3 Jan. 1/7 My Station on the Lachlan River..was robbed by three armed Bushrangers. 1845W. Deans Let. 25 Nov. in J. Deans Pioneers of Canterbury (1937) 100 There will be no stations so far inland here as there are in Australia. 1851E. Shortland Southern Districts N.Z. xiii. 245 We arrived early in the afternoon at the native station near Lake Wairewa. 1873Hobgoblins 31 The impenetrable woods disappeared and they were soon in sight of the home Station. 1891E. Kinglake Australian 116 His holding is called a ‘station’, never a sheep farm or cattle ranch, in spite of the English novelists. 1898Morris Austral Eng. 436 Station, originally the house with the necessary buildings and home-premises of a sheep-run, and still used in that sense; but now more generally signifying the run and all that goes with it. 1930[see homestead n. 2 b]. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. May 463/1 Years previously, when the present farm was part of a large station.
** In figurative applications.
15. gen. A metaphorical standing-place or position, e.g. in a class or enumeration, in a scale of estimation or dignity; and the like.
1605Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 102 If you haue a station in the file, Not i' th' worst ranke of Manhood. 1611Bible Isa. xxii. 19, I will driue thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee downe. 1681–6J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 124 The Apostles were placed in a higher Station than any of the rest, as being authorized by Christ to superintend and preside over them. 1772Mackenzie Man of World i. iv. (1823) 430 And he shortly attained the station of experienced vice. 1781Cowper Charity 336 He..wins mankind, as his attempts prevail, A prouder station on the gen'ral scale. 1848De Quincey Poetry of Pope Wks. 1890 XI. 53 For not only is much that takes a station in books not literature; but inversely, much that really is literature never reaches a station in books. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. 5 The invasion of the Crimea so tried..the enduring power of the nations engaged, that..their relative stations in Europe were changed. 1874Dunglison Med. Dict. (Cent.), Given as a tonic, but not worthy an officinal station.
16. A person's position in the world; a state of life as determined by outward circumstances or conditions; spec. a calling, office, employment. Now rare or Obs. exc. in private station, an unofficial position.
1675Owen Indwelling Sin vii. (1732) 70 When any Lust grows high and prevailing..it is from the peculiar Advantage that it hath in the natural Constitution, or the Station or Condition of the Person in the World. 1697G. Dallas Syst. Stiles i. Ded., Being perswaded by some persons of the greatest Quality in the Kingdom, and others in Publick Stations. Ibid. (89) King Charles..most deservedly Conferred upon your Lordship, not only Titles of Honour, but also several Eminent Stations. a1700Evelyn Diary 4 Feb. 1685, A Proclamation order'd to be publish'd, that all Officers should continue in their stations. a1704T. Brown Satire Marriage Wks. 1730 I. 58 This pagan confinement, this damnable station, Suits no order, nor age, nor degree in thy nation. 1713Addison Cato iv. iv, When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway The post of honour is a private station. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 276 It is easy to be placed in a station of life, where..gold..would be of no value. 1726Swift Gulliver i. vi, They believe that the common Size of Human Understandings is fitted to some Station or other. 1784J. Potter Virtuous Vill. II. 71 His sermon on Sunday se'nnight is to consist of some general observations concerning the marriage station. 1801Farmer's Mag. Jan. 79 The soldiers and sailors employed, are unproductive branches of the community; and the stations formerly occupied by them, must one way or other be filled up by others. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 82 The station of groom to a lanky-ear'd Neddy. 1819Shelley Peter Bell 3rd vi. xii, It is a dangerous invasion When poets criticize; their station Is to delight, not pose. 1822Scott Nigel x, George Heriot, with the formality belonging to his station, observed, that [etc.]. 1833H. Martineau Vanderput ix. 134 God appoints his servants their station. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. ii. v, Great in a private station, Necker looks on from the distance; abiding his time. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes iv. (1850) 47/2 It is their station to work. And they do work.
17. a. Position in the social scale, as higher or lower.
1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. i. xxvii, Content may dwell in all Stations. 1693Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 12 Not affecting to be dress'd or adorn'd above the common Station of a Gard'ner. 1742Sherlock Let. in G. Harris Life Ld. Hardwicke (1847) II. 27 Your lordship's great character & station place you out of the reach of any little service I am able to doe. 1783Burke Rep. Affairs of India Wks. 1842 II. 45 The reasons, assigned by Mr. Barwell..seem to your committee to be..not very fit to be urged by a man in his station. 1803Edin. Rev. Jan. 289 We are well off to have got so much from a man of this Lord's station, who does not live in a garret, but ‘has the sway’ of Newstead Abbey. 1837Lockhart Scott I. v. 156 If the club consisted chiefly of persons..somewhat inferior to Scott in birth and station. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 197 These were the highest in station among the proselytes of James. 1851Dixon W. Penn xiv. (1872) 121 A young girl of great beauty and spirit,..and of his own station in society. 1862Stanley Jewish Ch. (1877) I. vii. 137 The prophets..were confined to no family or caste, station or sex.
b. spec. Elevated position, high social rank.
1731Swift On Death of Dr. Swift 352 He never courted men in station. 1781Cowper Table Talk 354 Such men are rais'd to station and command, When Providence means mercy to a land. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. (1848) 181 The villains could not sympathize with the delicate feelings of a man in station. 1832H. Martineau Ireland vi. 91 Many other gentlemen of station and fortune. 1861Brougham Brit. Const. xx. 384 The army is officered by men of station and influence in the country.
III. A stopping-place.
18. A stopping place on a journey; a place of temporary abode in a course of migration.
1585C. Fetherstone tr. Calvin on Acts xiii. 13. 299 Here is set downe another of Paul's stations. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxviii. xv. 349 Thinking with himselfe, what a deale of criminall matters he had brewed, in a certaine station [marg. or baiting towne]. 1796H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Study Nat. (1799) II. 500 My landlord, in another of my stations, has lived a very different life. 1825Scott Talism. i, He joyfully hailed the sight of two or three palm-trees, which arose beside the well which was assigned for his mid-day station. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. vi. iii, They roll through the streets, with stern-sounding music,..pausing at set stations.
19. a. A regular stopping place on a road. Chiefly U.S., a place on a coach route where a stop was made for change of horses and for meals.
1797F. Baily Tour (1856) 193 About half past nine we came to Graham station on the Kentucky shore; it may contain about twenty houses. 1834J. Hall Kentucky II. 3 And every here and there a station—a rude block-house, surrounded with palisades, afforded shelter to the traveller, and refuge, in time of danger, to all within its reach. 1867A. D. Richardson Beyond Mississippi xxviii. 330 (Funk) The ranches forty or fifty miles apart where passengers take meals, are termed ‘home stations’; those where the coach only stops to exchange teams, ‘swing stations’. 1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It iv. (1882) 18 Then the rattling of the coach..awoke to a louder and stronger emphasis, and we went sweeping down on the station at our smartest speed.
b. transf.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 808 Many of these nuclei are stations in long commissural fibre systems.
20. a. (More explicitly railway station.) A place where railway trains regularly stop for taking up and setting down passengers or for receiving goods for transport. Also, and more frequently, a building or group of buildings erected at such a place for purposes connnected with the transport of passengers and goods. Also with defining word, passenger station, goods station.
In English the word is applied not only to an intermediate stopping-place (like the F. station), but also to a terminus (= F. gare). In recent use, a stopping-place not provided with buildings is called a ‘halt’.
1830Booth L'pool & Manch. Railw. 46 This Railway will cost above {pstlg}800,000 including the charge for stations and depots at each end. 1838Times 5 June 5/1 Here there is a ‘station’ for supplying coals, water, &c. to the engine, and for the embarking and disembarking of passengers. 1840F. Whishaw Railw. Gt. Brit. & Irel. 128 [Grand Junction Railway]. Besides the terminal stations, there are the following intermediate stations. 1847Helps Friends in C. i. iii. 33 As Milverton was driving me from the station through Durley Wood, there was [etc.]. 1886Encycl. Brit. XX. 234/2 Railway stations are either ‘terminal’ or ‘intermediate’. A terminal station embraces (1) the passenger station; (2) the goods station. 1891Meredith One of our Conq. xxv, The former was requested to meet her at Penshurst station at noon.
b. station-to-station attrib. phr., used with reference to traffic between neighbouring stations.
1878F. S. Williams Mid. Railw. 424 A piece of ground..has been laid out for a stone, mineral, and station-to-station traffic. 1903Daily Chron. 18 Dec. 6/3 They were asking Parliament to abolish some of the low station-to-station rates.
IV. Ecclesiastical uses.
21. Hist. A service at which the clergy of the city of Rome assembled at one of a certain number of churches within the city, each of which had its fixed day in the year for this celebration.
c1410Lydg. Lyf Our Lady lxii. (1484) i vj b, In a chirche whiche men of custome calle Sancta sanctorum..The same day there the prestys alle Solempnely make a stacion. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 143 b/1 The pope ordeyned a stacion in that chyrche euery yere on ester day. a1502in Arnolde's Chron. (1811) 154 In the circumsicion of our Lorde is stacions to Saint Mari Transtiberine.
22. Each of a number of holy places visited by pilgrims in fixed succession; esp. each of those churches in the city of Rome at which ‘stations’ (see 21) were held, and to the visiting of which on certain days indulgences were attached. Also, a visit to such a holy place, or an assembly held there for purposes of devotion on the appointed day.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 80 Þei techen men þat for staciones of rome..þei schullen haue þousandis of ȝeris of pardon. a1400Stac. Rome (Vernon MS.) 230 And pardon in Rome þat is grete. Þe Stacions þer men hit clepe Pope Bonefas confermed alle. c1450MS. Ashm. 61 lf. 128 The stasyons of Jerusalem. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2412 So dyd Offa..Deuoutly to vysyte all the hole stacyons of the cytee of Rome. 1528Roy Rede me (Arb.) 106 Hathe Englond soche stacions Of devoute peregrinacions As are in Fraunce and Italy? 1546Langley tr. Pol. Verg. de Invent. viii. i. 147 Gregory..named the pompous sacrifices stacions bycause thei wer celebrated on certain daies limited and prescribed by statute. 1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxxix. (1870) 220 Forasmuch as ther be many that hath wrytten of the Holy Lande, of the stacyons, & of the Iurney or way. 1826T. Coleman Indulgences etc. Order Mt. Carmel 18 When..we give the name of Stations to the visits we pay the churches or other places appointed by the Popes to pray there, we understand so many intervals of rest to gain the indulgences granted to those places. 1826[J. R. Best] Transalpine Mem. I. 130, I shall now transcribe..the account given in the ‘Diario Romano’..of the ceremonies to be performed in Holy week... April 11th. Palm Sunday. Station at S. Gio. in Laterano.
23. Stations (of the Cross): the series of images or pictures (usually fourteen in number) representing successive incidents of the Passion, placed in a church (or sometimes in the open air) to be visited in order for meditation and prayer; the series of devotional exercises appointed to be used on this occasion.
1553Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 185 b, Pope Alexander the sixt assigned the Iubile and Stations to be had in sundrie prouinces and countreis. 1837J. E. Murray Summer in Pyrenees II. 113 Numbers of devotees may be seen..kneeling and repeating the prescribed Pater and Ave at the various stations, or chapels. 1863[Marg. Roberts] Denise I. 141 A station (one of those little chapels commemorating the different incidents of the Passion of our Lord). 1881Parochial Hymn-bk. [R.C.] §xxxvii. 701 The Franciscan Fathers erected Calvaries,..surrounded them with Stations (or pictures representing the chief circumstances of our Lord's last painful journey)... The Sovereign Pontiffs, who had already granted..Indulgences to the real Stations of our Lord's Passion, did not hesitate to extend the same to these representations of them.
24. Phrases. to go, make, perform one's (or the) stations, to go on or for stations: to perform the prescribed acts of devotion in succession at certain holy places, or at the Stations of the Cross.
a1445? Gascoign Life St. Bridget in Myrr. our Ladye (1873) p. lii, When she was at Rome..she wente euery daye the Stacyons ordeyned by the churche. c1461Bale's Chron. in Town Chron. (1911) 141 A generall remission and pardon to assoille all þoo that hadde made any avowe to goo the Stacions of Jerusalem or to Room. 1485Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1911, I have gon þe stacyones by and by. 1509Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess. Richmond Wks. (1876) 295 After dyner full truely she wolde goe her Statyons, to thre Aulters dayly. a1540J. Heywood Four P. A j, Yet haue I been at Rome also And gone the stacions all arowe. 1574Hellowes Gueuara's Epist. (1584) 173 There was alwaies in the temple one priest alone..and those that went thither on stations, they might only kisse y⊇ walls. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 182 They made us perform the Stations at three Altars. 1702Marwood Diary in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. VII. 119 Mond. 23 [Jan.]. In Classe the Esqr was a little Indisposed but Stayd it out, & held well all day after, but did not go for his Stations. Ibid. Wed. 25. He went his Stations in ye Morn... Thursd. 26... We were at my Ld W.[aldegrave] & at even made Station wth him. 1753Challoner Cath. Chr. Instr. 220 And where there are many Churches the Faithful make their Stations to visit our Lord in these Sepulchres, and meditate on the different Stages of his Passion. 1815Mrs. Schimmelpenninck Demol. Port Royal III. 283 When he had finished his stations, he returned to his beloved solitude.
25. A special service held at a holy place.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys, Elisabeth 335 And eek at stacyowns wher sermons shuld be, She nold ben among þe statys hy, But among þe wummen of porest degre She alwey wold syttyn. 1554tr. Doctr. Masse Bk. B vij b, The halowing of the fyre on Easter Euen. {fatpara} This wyse let there be a station vnto the fyre. Let the priest stand by the fyre,..and let y⊇ deacon stand on his lefte hand, [etc.]. a1843in Southey's Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 8, I attended the stations that are performed in the chapels on Sunday evenings. Ibid. 9, I went to the Lough, and performed the station according to order, but found no ease to my troubled mind thereby. 1847W. Reeves Eccl. Antiq. 301 A holy well where the Roman Catholics of old held stations at midsummer. 1890J. Healy Insula Sanct. 210 The Wedder's well..is still regarded as a holy well by the people who hold a station there on the feast of Brendan.
26. Hist. The bi-weekly fast (on Wednesday and Friday) anciently observed.
1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iii. iv. 78 No man taketh the Stations to have beene occasionall, but only set fasts. 1673Cave Prim. Chr. i. vii. 180 These fasts [weekly fasts kept on Wednesdays and Fridays] they called their stations—not because they stood all the while but by an allusion to the Military Stations and Keeping their Guards. a1711Ken Urania Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 451 She sacred Fasts and Stations strictly keeps, And for the publick Provocations weeps. 1909C. Bigg Orig. Chr. xv. 191 They fasted commonly upon the ‘Stations’, that is to say, on all Wednesdays and Fridays.
27. Ireland. A visit of a Roman Catholic parish priest and his curate to the house of a parishioner on a weekday, to give to those living in the neighbourhood the opportunity of confession.
1830Carleton Traits Ir. Peasantry (1843) I. 145 [The parish priest says] ‘Take notice, that the Stations for the following week will be held as follows:—On Monday, in Jack Gallagher's,’ [etc.]. 1844Min. Proc. & Evid. Athlone Election Petit. 26 What do you mean by a station?—The priest goes to the house to hear the family their duties and confessions.
V. Combinations.
28. Obvious combinations: in sense 20, as station announcer, station buffet, station-building, station-clerk, station-door, station-foreman, station hotel, † station-keeper, station manager, station platform, station-porter, station-yard; in sense 14, as station hack, station holder, station horse, station manager, station owner, station property, station stock; station-bred adj.; in sense 19, as station-boss, station-building; in senses 23–26, as station-chapel, station-vigil; in sense 11 c, 13 b, as station commander; in sense 13 f, as station director, station manager, station operation; in sense 13 h, as station chief.
1964‘J. H. Roberts’ ‘Q’ Document (1965) ii. 54 The blaring voice of the *station announcer calling the trains.
1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It iv. (1882) 22 The *station-boss stopped dead still, and glared at me, speechless.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 223 Quiet *station-bred cattle.
1939N. Coward To step Aside 61, I had some tea with her in the *station buffet at Dieppe. 1941J. D. Carr Case of Constant Suicides i. 15 Drinking slopped tea..in a steamy station-buffet. 1978D. Kyle Black Camelot viii. 119 He went into the station buffet and bought a cup of tea and a Banbury cake.
1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It iv. (1882) 19 The *station buildings were long low huts, made of sun⁓dried, mud-coloured bricks. 1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 77 One range of station buildings suffices for the travellers by all the trains.
1890A. J. C. Hare S.E. France 575 Seven *station-chapels rise..amongst the wormwood and lavender on the tufa rocks.
1974W. Garner Big Enough Wreath iv. 41, I have a *station chief in London.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Station-clerk, a railway clerk.
1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 8 We've a new *Station Commander who is keen on physical training, and life is one long parade from six in the morning till ten at night. 1972Police Rev. 1 Dec. 1569/2 Why should not the station commander himself take action? 1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xliv. 419 The Station Commander told Hartley that he had been watching all three squadrons.
1923J. Reith Diary 25 Oct. (1975) ii. 132 Very busy on new regulations for SB... I am leaving it more to the *station directors.
1860W. Collins Woman in White xiv, She set them down outside the *station-door.
1901Westm. Gaz. 24 Dec. 7/2 *Station foreman.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 101 The ordinary *station-hacks.
1878E. S. Elwell Boy Colonists 27 When the men..wanted any of these articles for personal use..the *station-holder sold them to them.
1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling vii. 75 Leagues away even from the homestead cows or the *station horses. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 14 No station horse of any standing would have approved of our little farm.
1862Bailey's Mag. Sept. 156 Never for many years had York been so full before; and at the *station hotels Lords were as plentiful as partridges in Norfolk.
1846Commerc. Mag. Oct. 134 He quitted the first-class carriage on reaching Rugby..desiring the *station-keeper to inform the directors, that [etc.].
1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xvii. 167 One *station manager told us that he had found scores of them [sc. rabbits] dead around their burrows. 1962B.B.C. Handbk. 30 The station managers must aim to build a partnership between the broadcaster and the community. 1965Guardian 11 Feb. 16/4 Stationmasters in the London-Midland region of British Rail..would be replaced by station managers, who would have wider powers.
1977D. L. Altheide in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. iv. 142 Secondly, there is the relation of the news to the overall *station operation, including sales, production, and programming.
1911E. M. Clowes On Wallaby iii. 69 A *station-owner's life, even in these days, is not all beer and skittles. 1968K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 42 Three weeks later it rained... The station owners smiled.
1886Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 117 Nobody ever dreamed of seeing him handcuffed on a *station platform. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo vii. 75 The ‘boy’..informed me that..an enormous lion was standing on the station platform.
1886W. J. Tucker E. Europe 384 The station-master..filling the posts as he did of *station-porter, station-master, and chief of the postal and telegraphic department.
1890Golden South 96 We invested ours in a large *station property.
1880Town & Country Jrnl. (N.S.W.) 14 Feb. 314/4 The *station stock seldom feed near the road.
1898Baylay tr. Batiffol's Hist. Rom. Breviary 14 Sunday vigils, *station vigils, vigils in cemeteries, each comprising a triple office.
1854Mrs. Stowe Sunny Mem. II. 184 We made a descent like an avalanche into the *station yard. 1886Encycl. Brit. XX. 234/2 In laying out the approaches and station-yard of passenger stations ample width and space should be provided.
29. Special combinations: station agent, (a) chiefly U.S., a person in charge of a stage-coach or railway station; (b) a person working for an intelligence service; station-bill Naut. (see quot.); station break U.S., a break (break n.1 8 k) between radio or television items or programmes, during which the station identifies or advertises itself; station-day † (a) in Ireland, the day of some municipal ceremony (sense 4 b); (b) Eccl. the day of a station or special service (see 21, 25); also, the day of the ancient bi-weekly fast (see 26); station-distance Surveying (see quot.); station-finder = station-pointer; station hand Austral. and N.Z., a man employed on a station; station head, the chief of an intelligence service headquarters; station hospital, a hospital attached to a military station; station-indicator (see quot. 1884); station-jack Austral., a kind of meat pudding used in the bush; station-keeping Naut., the maintenance of the proper relative position of ships in a moving squadron; also transf. and as ppl. a.; station-line, (a) Perspective, the vertical line drawn through the point of sight (see also quot. 1704); (b) Surveying (see quot. 1875); stationman, (a) a person employed on the (underground) railways, as a platform attendant, porter, etc.; (b) = station hand; station meter Gas-making (see quot. 1844); station-point, (a) Perspective (see quot. 1859); (b) Surveying, a station or the point on a plan corresponding to a station; station-pointer Surveying (see quot. 1876); station-pole Surveying, a pole set up at a station; station-rod = station-staff; station-sergeant, the police sergeant in charge of a station; † station ship, a patrol vessel appointed to a particular station; station-staff Surveying (see quot. 1701); station time Eccl., the time when a station is celebrated.
1857Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. II. 25 The active co-operation of this company, through its *station agents{ddd}in bringing forward an interesting show. 1879E. J. Simmons Mem. Station Master (1974) ix. 131 The Long and Narrow Railway paid their station-agent better than the Great Smash Company. 1910J. Hart Vigilante Girl xv. 203 He stopped at the stage station... When the station agent looked to see what the man had written [etc.]. 1948Westerners Brand Bk. (Denver Posse) 21 Louis J. F. Jaeger..was the Butterfield station agent at Fort Yuma. 1974J. Grady Six Days of Condor 109 Who do you suppose was station agent out of Taiwan?
1815Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), *Station Bill (rôle de postes, Fr.) a list containing the appointed posts of the ship's-company, when navigating the ship.
1949Consumer Rep. May 236/2 A ‘*station-break’ can..be inserted between the close of one commercial program and the opening of the next. 1971D. E. Westlake I gave at Office (1972) 133 I've been in this business long enough to know a lead-in for a station break when I see one, and that finish was a natural, so I took a station break.
1560in Sir J. T. Gilbert Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1891) II. 9 Fremen..shall attende upon the Maior..at all *stacion daies, and not to depart tyll the stacion be done. 1563–83Foxe A. & M. 1402/1 (Canon of Mass), In the city of Rome they sayd them [sc. collects] ouer the people collected together in the station day. 1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iii. iv. 78 Their set dayes of 150 fasting, which were called Station dayes. 1898W. Bright Some Aspects Prim. Ch. Life iii. 118 Wednesdays and Fridays [were] called ‘Station-days’ apparently by adaptation of a term used for military duty.
1798Hutton Course Math. (1807) II. 67 measure the distances from station to station... And in measuring any of these *station-distances, mark accurately where [etc.]. 1875W. Paterson Notes Milit. Surv. (ed. 3) 38 Station-Distance, measurements entered in the centre column of the field-book which are taken upon the station-lines from each station.
1888W. H. Richards Milit. Topogr. 115 The problem is seldom used except for finding a ship's place with regard to points on the coast, which are shown on the chart; an instrument called a ‘*station finder’ is generally used for the purpose.
1885Rae Chirps Austral. Sparrow 99 Some *station hands had been in jail. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. xxix. 271 The station hands, who have to go out at daybreak, generally have their main feed then. 1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. i. 8 When an old fashioned squatter or station hand used the word ‘homestead’ he used it to signify the owner's residence.
1974J. Grady Six Days of Condor 108 He worked his way..from special field agent to *station head.
1901Empire Rev. I. 435 The details of management of *station hospitals.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 853 *Station indicator, an indicator operating in connection with the driving-wheels to exhibit automatically the name of the station or street immediately preparatory to arrival. 1895Daily News 28 Nov. 5/4 The station indicator has been in experimental running on this Company's Hounslow branch for many months past.
1853Emigrant's Guide Australia 112 Take..the flour and work it into a paste; then put the beef into it, boil it, and you will have a very nice pudding, known in the bush as ‘*Station-jack’.
1886Pall Mall Gaz. 19 Aug. 2/1 Giving me my first introduction to the mysteries of *station-keeping. 1898Kipling in Morn. Post 5 Nov. 5/1 The ships haven't worked together, and station-keeping isn't as easy as it looks. 1962Punch 18 Apr. 597/3 A British scheme ‘envisages’..‘twelve station-keeping active-relay satellites’. 1971Daily Tel. 14 Sept. 2/6 The ‘station-keeping’ device would be useful in fog..to indicate the correct distance behind the vehicle in front.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, *Station-Line. See Line of Station. Line of Station, in Perspective, according to some Writers, is the common Section of the Vertical and Geometrial Planes. Others, as Lamy, mean by it the perpendicular Height of the Eye above the Geometrick Plane. Others, a Line drawn on that Plane, and perpendicular to the Line expressing the Height of the Eye. c1791Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VII. 679/1 The distances taken by the off-set staff, on either side of the station-line, are to be entered into columns on either side of the middle column. 1798Hutton Course Math. (1828) II. 68 As you go along any main station-line, take offsets to the ends of all hedges [etc.]. 1859Ruskin Perspective Introd. 9 From S let fall a perpendicular line SR, to the bottom of the paper, and call this line the Station-line. This represents the line on which the observer stands at a greater or less distance from the picture. 1875W. Paterson Notes Milit. Surv. (ed. 3) 38 Station-line, the one the surveyor walks along in measuring from one station to another, and from which he takes his angles, distances, and off-sets.
1952Britannica Bk. of Year 667/1 *Stationman,..a platform attendant of the London Transport (Underground) railways. 1963Times 24 May (London Underground Centenary Suppl.) p. vii/4 Passengers refused to leave trains at the haughty ordering of stationmen who refused to give any explanation of why the journey could not continue. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 174 Fearfully I looked round as if at that moment one of the station men would come riding up and find me with the dead sheep. 1968Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 13 Dec. 14/1 The wild adventures of train controllers and station men, or signalmen and porters as they used to be called in the dull old days. 1974P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry i. 19 Notice that on the London tubes, the ‘degrading’ rank of porter has been engulfed in stationman.
1844E. A. Parnell's Appl. Chem. I. 145 A large meter, called the *station meter, is placed at the gas-works between the purifier and the gasometers, to ascertain at pleasure the quantity of gas made during any given period.
1859Ruskin Perspective Introd. 10 On this line [the Station-line] mark the distance ST, at your pleasure, for the distance at which you wish your picture to be seen, and call the point T the *Station-point. 1880L. D'A. Jackson Aids Surv.-Pract. 96 Some recorders use alphabetical letters to designate station-points.
1774M. Mackenzie Marit. Surv. 24 Such an Instrument as this may be called a *Station-pointer. 1804Nicholson's Jrnl. VII. 1 Description and Use of the Station Pointer; an Instrument for readily ascertaining the Situation of the Observer after having determined the angular Position of three known Objects. 1876Catal. Loan Collect. Sci. Apparatus S. Kens. Mus. (1877) 733 Station Pointer, 6-inch. For placing the observer's position on the chart from angles taken between three objects, the relative positions of which are known.
1880L. D'A. Jackson Aids Surv.-Pract. 112 The *station poles used as survey marks.
1835Lond. Jrnl. Arts & Sci. Conj. Ser. VI. 329 The graduated *station rods or staffs..placed perpendicularly.., the glass vessel at the lower station must be slidden up its rod [etc.].
1890Daily News 5 Dec. 7/1 The old term *station-sergeant will be substituted in lieu of sub-inspector. The pay of station-sergeants will commence at 45s. per week, as at present. 1901Essex Weekly News 13 Sept. 6/5 Station-Sergeant George Card was found in the station shot through the heart.
1758Memoirs of Last War 20 Being favoured therein by the casual Absence of the Canso *Station Ship, omitted to be sent that Year, as was likewise the usual Station Ship to Boston.
1658Phillips, *Station-staff, an instrument used in Surveying, being a streight pole divided into feet, inches, and parts of inches, from the bottom upward. 1701Moxon Math. Instr. 19 Station-staff, made of 2 Rulers that slide to ten Foot, divided into Feet and Inches, with a moving Vein or sight, two of which are used with a Leavel, and on the edges we divide the Links of Gunter's Chain: used in Surveying for the more easie taking off Sets. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 32. 2/1, 2 Station-Staves, with Moveable Vanes. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 359/2 Direct the object-end of the telescope successively to the station-staves held up on the different pickets.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 77 Þere þe pope syngeþ þe masse þre Sondayes in þe ȝere in þe *stacioun tyme. 1643in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 494 We.. doe order that all Assemblies and station tymes that all the aforesaid persons respectivelie shall take their places as is aforesaid sett downe.
Sense 9 e in Dict. becomes 9 f. Add: [II.] [9.] e. Bot. A location at which a particular plant species (often an uncommon one) is growing.
1805Turner & Dillwyn Botanist's Guide Eng. & Wales I. p. xv, It has been suggested that the Botanist's Guide, by pointing out the Stations of plants, may possibly lead to the extirpation of some which are least common. 1818T. Walford Sci. Tourist Eng., Wales & Scotl. I. Herefordshire, There are many rare plants in Herefordshire; but their stations not being particularized in the County History, I can only add the few following. 1912J. W. White Flora of Bristol 269 This bramble is extremely rare in the county as a whole, for but one station is given by Mr. Murray in Fl. Som. 1937A. H. Wolley-Dod Flora of Sussex p. liii, Cicuta virosa has two or three Sussex stations, all more or less doubtful. 1980Watsonia XIII. 170 There are four main stations of Fritillaria meleagris L. in E. Suffolk,..three of which are managed by the Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation.
▪ II. station, v.|ˈsteɪʃən|
[f. station n. Cf. F. stationner (1606 in Hatz.-Darm.), Pg. estacionar.]
1. trans. To assign a post, position or station to (a person, troops, ships, etc.); to place or post (a sentinel, etc.) in a station.
1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xxix, I was not a whit more exposed than those who were stationed about me. 1760Inform. Dk. Gordon v. Earls Murray & Fife 11 The bay which the river forms at its mouth in which ships are stationed. a1781Watson Philip III (1839) 91 Some companies of Scotch troops, which had been stationed in Cadsant. 1786Burns Tam Samson iv, Wha will they [the Curlers] station at the cock, Tam Samson's dead? 1809Lond. Chron. 29 July 101/2 Some sheep, which he had stationed upon a very deep declivity near the rocks. 1823Scott Quentin D. xvii, Upon knocking gently at the gate, a brother, considerately stationed for that purpose by the Prior, opened it. 1842Ld. Aberdeen in Excheq. Rep. II. 182 The laudable practice of stationing cruisers off slave-factory stations. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 142 The troops stationed near London. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Stationing a Ship's Company, arranging the crew for the ready execution of the evolutionary duties of a ship. 1892Bierce In Midst of Life 108 Before stationing his men the young officer..had [etc.]. 1903Union Mag. Jan. 16/1 He was at that time ‘stationed’ in the Brixton Hill circuit in London.
transf.1837Lytton E. Maltravers i. i, He kept his eyes stationed on the door.
b. To place in a certain position in a list.
1865Nat. Hist. Rev. 313 At the head of the order Dr. Günther stations the Typhlopidæ, Tortricidæ, [etc.].
c. refl. To take up one's station, post oneself. Also in pass. with reflexive notion. Said occas. of a thing.
1780Mirror No. 103 There is a.. merry-looking dog of a sailor..stationed at the corner of the street where I live. 1826F. Reynolds Life & T. II. 56 Stationing himself at the side,..he said, ‘There!’ 1829Chapters Phys. Sci. 343 According to the motions which the object makes, the image touches it or stations itself by its side. 1838Lytton Alice i. viii, Lady Vargrave was stationed by the open window. 1889W. Lockhart Ch. Scot. 13th C. vii. 79 The bishop stationed himself at the left corner of the church towards the east.
d. In pass., of a plant: To have a certain station or position of growth.
1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 323 Such species as have their barren and fertile flowers on distinct plants, do not perfect their fruit except where individuals of both sorts are stationed in the vicinity of one another.
2. Shipbuilding. To determine the proper position for (timbers).
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 406/2 In stationing the timbers upon the keel for a boat, there must [etc.]. 1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. viii. 148 There was no necessity for stationing every beam at a frame. |