station

Definitions

General English

noun a place where trains stop and passengers
get on
or off
noun a large main
building
for a service

General Science

noun a
building
used for a particular
purpose
, e.g. a
research
station or railway station

Agriculture

noun a very large farm, specialising in raising
sheep
or
cattle

Computing

noun a point in a network or communications system which contains devices to control the
input
and output of messages, allowing it to be used as a sink or source

Construction

A point on the earth's surface that can be determined by
surveying
.
On a
survey traverse
, particularly a
roadway
, every 100' interval is called a station.

Electronics

A place, facility,
site
, or position where something is placed, installed, or is otherwise located.
A station
(1) where
communications equipment
is situated. For instance, a
receiving station
, a
transmitting station
, a
land station
, or a
ship station
.
A station
(2) within a radiocommunications service in which
TV
, radio, or other signals intended for reception by the general public are received, transmitted, or retransmitted. Also called
broadcasting station
.
A place designated for study, observation,
measurement
,
testing
, or the like. For example, a
radar station
.
Any place along a
communications network
or system where there is a
signal input
or output.
A
computer
input/
output device
which incorporates a video
adapter
, monitor,
keyboard
, and usually a mouse. Used in networks. Also called terminal (1),
computer terminal
(1),
network terminal
(1), or console (3). When such a terminal has no
processing
capability it is called
dumb terminal
, while a terminal that incorporates a
CPU
and memory does have processing capability, and is called intelligent terminal.
A
personal computer
or
workstation
which is linked to a network. Also called terminal (2),
computer terminal
(2), or
network terminal
(2).

Information & Library Science

noun a point in a network at which work can be input to the main system

Media Studies

noun a place equipped to make and broadcast radio or television programmes
noun a television or radio channel

Military

noun a place where soldiers are based
noun a base
location
for an
air force

grouping
noun a
regular
stopping place on a
railway
line
verb to send a
serviceperson
to serve in a particular
location

Travel

noun the regular place where someone works
noun a place in a
hotel
, shop or other workplace where a service is
available

Origin & History of “station”

A station is etymologically a ‘standing’, hence a ‘place for standing’ – a guard who takes up his ‘station’ outside a building goes and ‘stands’

there

. The word comes via Old French station

from

Latin statiō ‘standing’, a descendant of the base *stā- ‘stand’ (to

which

English

stand is related). Various metaphorical senses emerged in Latin,

such

as ‘post, job’ and ‘abode, residence’, but ‘stopping place for vehicles’ is a post-Latin development. It came out of an earlier ‘stopping place on a journey’, and is

first

recorded in English at the end of the 18th century, in the USA,

with

reference to coach routes. The application to ‘railway stations’ dates from the 1830s. The notion of ‘standing still’ is preserved in the derived adjective stationary (15^th c.).

Nearby Definitions of “station”

Contexts for “station”

11 definitions in context

Origin & History