station
/ˈsteɪʃ(ə)n
/noun
1A place on a railway line where trains regularly stop so that passengers can get on or off: we walked back to the station and caught the train back to Brussels [in names]: Paddington Station...
- Bruno has to fly out from Madras, so next stop is the railway station to book his train ticket.
- We pass several Virginia railway express commuter stations, before stopping at Manassas.
- Many bus services finish at 7 pm, few buses stop outside train stations and passengers are forced to walk long distances to catch another bus or train.
1.1A bus or coach station.
2 [usually with modifier] A place or building where a specified activity or service is based: a research station in the rainforest coastal radar stations...
- The lease on the Hoy auxiliary coastguard station building, where they store their equipment is up for renewal in May.
- It aims at the development of a coastal radar station for marine surveillance.
- The new system at Burrington, north Devon, is the first of the National Air Traffic Services' 19 radar stations to be replaced as part of a nine-year upgrade programme.
2.1A small military base, especially of a specified kind: a naval station...
- In this way it was able to locate air bases and establish naval stations which would be invaluable if war occurred.
- Possibly the best thing about having military stations near your beat is the ability to visit and take a closer look.
- As is known, the ergonomic norm for continuous operation by command staff at a command and control station is five to seven hours.
2.2North American A subsidiary post office.Now, what does the postal inspectors look at at the post office station before it comes to the recipient?...
- It had two stores, a post office and telegraph station, wheelwrights, blacksmiths and a pound.
2.3Australian /NZ A large sheep or cattle farm.Prince Harry is off to spend a few weeks on a cattle and sheep station, location unknown....
- With the help of the many Afghan cameleers it provided a much needed service to many of the isolated cattle and sheep stations.
- Stockman work with stock - animals and jackaroos are what Australian farmers are called that work on outback stations with sheep or cattle.
Synonyms
ranch, range;
farm
3 [with modifier] A company involved in broadcasting of a specified kind: a radio station...
- All six BBC local radio stations will be broadcasting from the roadshow venues and there will be the opportunity for people to meet some of the region's favourite broadcasters.
- The BBC local radio station is broadcasting full match commentary from 10.00 am to noon on Saturday.
- We are now officially the most listened to BBC radio station in our broadcast area.
Synonyms
channel, broadcasting organization;
wavelength
4The place where someone or something stands or is placed on military or other duty: the lookout resumed his station in the bow...
- It's the kind of record you know you're going to buy twenty seconds into it but you stand at the listening station and sample every track anyway.
- Rockefeller's pews are pressed into duty as a staging station for the organ's pipes and sound boxes.
- If the patrol gains contact, a scout weapons team can respond and be on station within minutes.
Synonyms
assigned position, post, area of duty, place, situation, location
4.1 [count noun] dated One’s social rank or position: Karen was getting ideas above her station different stations in life...
- He is more interested in the bonds between people than their social or economic stations.
- Marrying above one's station has been the source of fairy tales, mythology, and Hollywood movies.
- It is not a far cry from thinking a person is beneath one's station to thinking a person's function is beneath one's station.
Synonyms
rank, place, status, position in society, social class, level, grade, standing;
caste
archaic condition, degree
5chiefly Botany A site at which a particular species, especially an interesting or rare one, grows or is found.Thus, the southernmost stations for the plant in natural habitats are on Virginia's James and Chickahominy Rivers....
- Photographs were taken of plants at both stations, however, and were deposited at the research center.
6 short for Stations of the Cross.The stations seem to have originated in the pious practice of pilgrims to the Holy Land who visited the sites of the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.
verb [with object and adverbial of place]
Put in or assign to a specified place for a particular purpose, especially a military one: troops were stationed in the town a young girl had stationed herself by the door...
- We will continue to contribute to the purpose of stationing our troops there.
- He and the members of his International Rescue Corps are stationed at an Iranian military base in the city.
- France began stationing military personnel in French Polynesia in 1962.
Synonyms
put on duty, post, position, place, set, locate, site;
establish, install;
deploy, base, garrison
Origin
Middle English (as a noun): via Old French from Latin statio(n-), from stare 'to stand'. Early use referred generally to ‘position’, especially 'position in life, status', and specifically, in ecclesiastical use, to 'a holy place of pilgrimage (visited as one of a succession'). The verb dates from the late 16th century.