noun

• 1 historical A toll gate.

  1. 1.1A road on which a toll was collected at a toll gate.
     ‘It was apparently built as a toll house on the old turnpike road between York and Scarborough.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The average length of a turnpike road was 30 miles, and the number of trustees varied from 15 to 237.’
     • ‘It used to take four hours to get to London by coach along the turnpike road.’
     • ‘In case you don't know, the turnpike is a toll road.’
     • ‘The trusts were responsible for the whole turnpike, and tolls paid for upkeep.’
     • ‘The road, which became a turnpike in 1752, has seen many alterations in its history.’
     • ‘A network of local roads and lanes fed the sub-region's turnpikes.’
     • ‘The carriageway profiles of the majority of Aberdeenshire turnpikes had a fall from the centre of the carriageway to the sides.’
     • ‘How, for instance, would this system of turnpikes be regulated, if not by cameras?’
     • ‘Manhattan's sleek skyscrapers are visible for an instant before the turnpike veers west and south towards Newark.’
     • ‘Preliminary numbers show that about 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles were traveling on the road each day, a turnpike spokesman said.’
     • ‘Sighing in relief she headed toward the turnpike and eased her Eclipse into a comfortable sixty miles per hour.’
  2. 1.2US A motorway on which a toll is charged.
     More example sentences

     • ‘Ohio's section of highway 80 is called a turnpike, and they charge a toll to drive on it.’
     Synonyms

     street, road, roadway, avenue, boulevard, way
• 2 historical A spiked barrier fixed in or across a road or passage as a defence against sudden attack.

  ‘Half the horses in London never see a turnpike gate.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The formation of drains beside and beneath turnpikes, an important facet of road construction, has received little comment in contemporary sources.’