way station

See also: way-station and waystation

English

Alternative forms

• way-station, waystation

Pronunciation

Homophone: weigh station

Noun

way station (plural way stations)

1. A small railway station between the principal stations or a station where the train stops only on a signal.
2. (figuratively) A service area or temporary lodging used during a longer journey.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 201:

     At one of the way-stations on his long journey a barmaid at a tavern speaks to Gilgamesh and tries to give him common sense on the human condition.

Synonyms

• stopover
• whistle-stop
• staging post