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, quadrupedal station (Zool.) [= F. station bipède, quadrupède]: the having two or four feet, respectively.
1526. Pilgr. 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.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., II. v. If [she be] reguardant, then maintaine your station,… shew the supple motion of your pliant bodie.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. iv. 58. A Station, like the Herald Mercurie New lighted on a heauen kissing hill.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., xxi. 234. Nature … allowes us two feet for the firmer station.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, I. iii. 20. The quadrupedal station.
1891. Century 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.
1913. Dorland, 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.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. iii. 22. Her motion, and her station are as one. She shewes a body, rather then a life.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. xi. § 1 (1622), 310. The vacuity of both Heauinesse and Lightnesse … is rather the principle of station, then of Motion.
1643. Sir 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.
1658. Owen, 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.
1660. Stanley, 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.
1841. Emerson, Ess., Compensation, 122. His life is a progress, and not a station.
3. A halt; a stand. Now rare or Obs.
1604. E. 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.
1609. J. Davies, Holy Roode, F 3 b. But now, my Soule, here let vs make a Station, To view perspicuously this sad aspect.
1657. Heylin, Eccl. Vind., II. ii. 117. A portable Temple … which might be carried and removed, according to the stations and removes of Israel.
1845. J. 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. An act of a pageant or a mystery play. Obs.
1474. Cov. 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.].
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 155. Fynally of this stacon thus wa mok 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.
1412–20. Lydg., 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.
1551. Recorde, Cast. Knowl. (1556), 279. The progression, retrogradation, and station of the Planetes.
1647. Cudworth, Serm. 1 John ii. 3–4. 56. Those upper Planets in the Heaven … have their Stations and Retrogradations, as well as their Direct Motions.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 563. The Planets in thir stations list’ning stood.
1704. J. 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.
1812. Woodhouse, Astron., xxiii. 249. In speaking of the stations and retrogradations of the planets.
1819. J. 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 sb. 7, STATUS 1. Obs.
1661. Lovell, 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 place to stand in; esp. a position assigned to a man on duty, or in games.
1556. N. Smyth, Herodian, I. 10 b. Yea, and the footemen whyche had stations within the cyte, came to rescue the people againste the horsemen.
1601. Ld. Mountjoy, in Moryson’s Itin. (1617), II. 157. The weather is so extreme, that many times we bring our Sentinels dead from the stations.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. i. 231. Seld-showne Flamins Doe presse among the popular Throngs and puffe To winne a vulgar station.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxv. 136. Able Seconds at Tennis play, placed in their proper stations.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Wars, 251. Armed men stood round about in the Station, at the top of the Mast.
1679. M. Rusden, Further Discov. Bees, 93. Every particular Bee taketh notice of his Station.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 29 Jan. 1689. I got a station … at the doore of the lobby to the House, and heard much of the debate.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., lix. I placed myself on my former station in hopes of a repeated visit.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 624. A man o’ th’ town dines late, but soon enough … T’ensure a side-box station at half price.
1833. 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.].
1867. Smyth, 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. 1609. Daniel, 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.
a. 1669. Denham, 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.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. Argt. The Cherubim taking their Stations to guard the Place.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), II. iv. 91. They kept their station for a while.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, i. They took their station under a balcony that overhung the lattice.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xlvi. Even when she … sat pensively waiting for their friend, she took her station where she could still look upon them.
1849. Helps, Friends in C., II. i. (1854), I. 258. A gorgeous peacock that took his station on the low wall bounding the lawn.
1882. E. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, xliv. II. 249. One of our companions took his station as sentinel upon the tomb of the little mosque.
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.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872), I. 50. Seven different views of the city, from as many stations.
1872. Jenkinson, 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.
1878. Browning, 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.
1667. Kath. Philips, Lucasia & Rosania, Poems 127. I’d dwell within thine arms Could I my station chuse.
1770. W. Shirley, Hymn, ‘Sweet the Moments.’ Truly blessed is this station, Low before his cross to lie.
1822. Scott, 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.
1864. Field, 2 July, 2/1. The Oxford boat had the better station, and twice led by a length. Ibid. (1868), 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.)
1911. Webster.
8. Surveying, etc. Each of the selected points at which observations are taken. Formerly also † place, point of station.
1571. Digges, 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.
1590. Blagrave, Baculum Fam., xviii. 27. Marke that station on the ground…. Then measure exactly the distance betweene those two stations.
1610. Hopton, Baculum Geodæt., III. vii. 68. Appoint thy first station, and there place thy staffe, and take the angle of altitude, [etc.].
1712. J. James, trans. 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.
1774. M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 19. Draw out the Line C D, and it will cut the Circle in S, the Point of Station required.
c. 1791. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VII. 674/2. Drawn from two points A and B, to the place of station C.
1875. Encycl. 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.
1880. L. 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. The place in which a thing stands or is appointed to stand. Now rare or Obs.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., XIII. 18. Vlpike and oynouns in their stacioun To growe.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 11. The gunwayle, stations for the nettings, a chaine through the stations, or brest-ropes.
1669. J. 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.
1687. Dryden, 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.
1693. Evelyn, 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.].
a. 1701. Maundrell, 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.
1711. Addison, Spectator, No. 98, ¶ 5. The Head has the most beautiful Appearance, as well as the highest Station, in a human Figure.
1792. Baron Munchausen, xii. 39. With this balloon … I played many tricks, such as taking one house from its station, and placing another in its stead.
1831. Scott, 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.
1666. Boyle, 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.
1753. Scots Mag., XV. 16/2. [Barometer] Common station 301/10.
† c. Arith. = PLACE sb. 10. Obs.
1709–29. V. 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.
1721. Bradley, 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.
1832. Lyell, 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.
1854. Stark, 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.
1871. Darwin, 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.)
1869. Sir E. Reed, Shipbuild., ii. 29. An elevation of this Keel is given in Fig. 27…. The stations are drawn in dotted lines.
1913. Board 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, harbor or roadstead for ships. In modern use, a place at which ships of the Navy are regularly stationed.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xlix. 13. Zabulon in the brynke of the see shal dwelle, and in the stacioun of shippes.
1615. G. 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.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Station, a standing place, a Bay or Rode for ships to rest in.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 608. A large Recess,… A Station safe for Ships, when Tempests roar.
a. 1700. Evelyn, 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.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. I. iii. (1743), 15. At Chatham is a Station for the Navy Royal.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XIX. 534/1. Portsmouth, a municipal and parliamentary borough, seaport, and naval station of Hampshire.
† b. A place in a harbor for the reception of a vessel. Obs.
1630. R. 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.
1666. in 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.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 18. Now we are in our Station, and a good Latitude.
1775. Lond. Chron., 14–16 March, 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.
1813. Sir 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.
1912. Times, 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.
c. 1784. Nelson, in Mahan, Life (1899), 54. To the end of the station his order was never repealed.
11. Mil. A place where soldiers are garrisoned, a military post.
In the first quot. (trans. L. statio) the body of men garrisoned.
c. 1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. xiii. 23. The stacioun of Philistym wente out [Vulg. egressa est statio Philisthiim].
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XVI. i. 55. Marcellus Generall of the Horse, who abode then but in the next stations, drave off to aid him.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Wars, 253. Prince Maurice … built a continuing Station for his Camp.
1769. De 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.
1802. C. 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.
1876. Voyle & 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) reside. Also the aggregate society of such a place.
1860. W. H. Russell, Diary India, I. xii. 194. The small and great pecuniary relations between the station and the bazaar.
1866. Trevelyan, 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?
1914. in Cornhill Mag., Dec., 811. The ordinary desultory after-dinner conversation of a small mofussil station.
12. The locality to which an official is appointed for the exercise of his functions.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., III. 116. Their … Priests are bred here, and from hence dispersed to their seuerall stations.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 14 June. I am glad my station is to be here, near my own home.
1788. Massachusetts 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.
1802. J. Benson, in J. Macdonald, Mem. (1822), 374. We have spent the four last days in preparing a draught of the stations of the Preachers.
1893. D. Davidson, Mem. Long Life, viii. (ed. 2), 198. Tanna was his judicial station.
b. pl. The annual list of appointments of Methodist ministers.
1885. Minutes Wesleyan Conf., 43. Each of the places mentioned in these Stations … is the head of a Circuit.
13. 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, seismological, telegraph, zoological station.
1823. W. Scoresby, Jrnl., p. xl. This colony, which subsequently increased to a number of stations, has been continued.
1842. Penny 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.
1861. Mrs. 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.
1870. Huxley, 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.
1883. Goode, 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.
1885. W. K. Brooks, in Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., II. 367. Their fruitful harvest furnishes one with the earliest evidences of the value of marine zoological stations.
1912. Standard, 20 Sept., 6/7. It has been decided … to establish a wireless telegraph station at Barfleur.
1913. Nature, 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.
1889. Pall 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.
1901. Mary L. Hendee, trans. 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.
1904. R. Small, Hist. Congreg. U. P. Ch., II. 402. The station was opened … on the first Sabbath of November.
14. Australia. (See quot. 1898.).
1833. Sturt, S. Australia, I. Introd. p. l. They … will only be occupied as distant Stock Stations.
1840. Sydney Herald, 3 Jan., 1/7. My Station on the Lachlan River … was robbed by three armed Bushrangers.
1873. Hobgoblins, 31. The impenetrable woods disappeared and they were soon in sight of the home Station.
1891. E. Kinglake, Australian at H., 116. His holding is called a ‘station,’ never a sheep farm or cattle ranch, in spite of the English novelists.
1898. Morris, 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.
** 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.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. i. 102. If you haue a station in the file, Not i’ th’ worst ranke of Manhood.
1611. Bible, Isa. xxii. 19. I will driue thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee downe.
1681–6. J. 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.
1772. Mackenzie, Man of World, I. iv. (1823), 430. And he shortly attained the station of experienced vice.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 336. He … wins mankind, as his attempts prevail, A prouder station on the gen’ral scale.
1848. De 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.
1863. Kinglake, 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.
1874. Dunglison, 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.
1675. Owen, 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.
1697. G. 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.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 4 Feb. 1685. A Proclamation order’d’ to be publish’d, that all Officers should continue in their stations.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Satire Marriage, Wks. 1730, I. 58. This pagan confinement, this damnable station, Suits no order, nor age, nor degree in thy nation.
1713. Addison, Cato, IV. iv. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway The post of honour is a private station.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 276. It is easy to be placed in a station of life, where … gold … would be of no value.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, I. vi. They believe that the common Size of Human Understandings is fitted to some Station or other.
1784. J. Potter, Virtuous Villagers, II. 71. His sermon on Sunday se’nnight is to consist of some general observations concerning the marriage station.
1801. Farmer’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.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 82. The station of groom to a lanky-ear’d Neddy.
1819. Shelley, Peter Bell 3rd, VI. xii. It is a dangerous invasion When poets criticize; their station Is to delight, not pose.
1822. Scott, Nigel, x. George Heriot, with the formality belonging to his station, observed, that [etc.].
1833. Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & S., ix. 134. God appoints his servants their station.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. v. Great in a private station, Necker looks on from the distance; abiding his time.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, iv. (1850), 47/2. It is their station to work. And they do work.
17. Position in the social scale, as higher or lower.
1682. Sir T. Browne, Chr. Mor., I. xxvii. Content may dwell in all Stations.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. 12. Not affecting to be dress’d or adorn’d above the common Station of a Gard’ner.
1742. Sherlock, Lett., 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.
1783. Burke, 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.
1803. Edin. 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.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. v. 156. If the club consisted chiefly of persons … somewhat inferior to Scott in birth and station.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 197. These were the highest in station among the proselytes of James.
1851. Dixon, W. Penn, xiv. (1872), 121. A young girl of great beauty and spirit,… and of his own station in society.
1862. Stanley, 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.
1731. Swift, On Death of Dr. Swift, 352. He never courted men in station.
1781. Cowper, Table Talk, 354. Such men are rais’d to station and command, When Providence means mercy to a land.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav. (1848), 181. The villains could not sympathize with the delicate feelings of a man in station.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, vi. 91. Many other gentlemen of station and fortune.
1861. Ld. Brougham, 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.
1585. Fetherstone, trans. Calvin on Acts xiii. 13. 299. Here is set downe another of Paul’s stations.
1609. Holland, 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].
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Study Nat. (1799), II. 500. My landlord, in another of my stations, has lived a very different life.
1825. Scott, 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.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VI. iii. They roll through the streets, with stern-sounding music,… pausing at set stations.
19. A regular stopping place on a road. Chiefly U.S., a place on a coach route where a stop is made for change of horses and for meals.
1797. F. Baily, Tour (1856), 193. About half past nine we came to Graham station on the Kentucky shore; it may contain about twenty houses.
1834. J. 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.
1867. A. 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 tears, ‘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.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 808. Many of these nuclei are stations in long commissural fibre systems.
20. (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 connected with the transport of passengers and goods. Also with defining word, passenger, 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.’
1830. Booth, L’pool & Manch. Railw., 46. This Railway will cost above £800,000 including the charge for stations and depots at each end.
1838. Times, 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.
1840. F. Whishaw, Railw. Gt. Brit. & Irel., 128. [Grand Junction Railway]. Besides the terminal stations, there are the following intermediate stations.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. iii. 33. As Milverton was driving me from the station through Durley Wood, there was [etc.].
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 234/2. Railway stations are either ‘terminal’ or ‘intermediate.’ A terminal station embraces (1) the passenger station; (2) the goods station.
1891. Meredith, 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 neighboring stations.
1878. F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 424. A piece of ground … has been laid out for a stone, mineral, and station-to-station traffic.
1903. Daily 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.
c. 1410. Lydg., 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.
1483. Caxton, Golden Leg., 143 b/1. The pope ordeyned a stacion in that chyrche euery yere on ester day.
a. 1502. in 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.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 80. Þei techen men þat for staciones of rome … þei schullen haue þousandis of ȝeris of pardon.
a. 1400. Stac. Rome (Vernon MS.), 230. And pardon in Rome þat is grete. Þe Stacions þer men hit clepe Pope Bonefas confermed alle.
c. 1450. MS. Ashm. 61 lf. 128. The stasyons of Jerusalem.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 2412. So dyd Offa … Deuoutly to vysyte all the hole stacyons of the cytee of Rome.
1528. Roy, Rede me (Arb.), 106. Hathe Englond soche stacions Of devoute peregrinacions As are in Fraunce and Italy?
1546. Langley, trans. 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.
1547. Boorde, 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.
1826. T. 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.
1553. Becon, Reliques of Rome (1563), 185 b. Pope Alexander the sixt assigned the Iubile and Stations to be had in sundrie prouinces and countreis.
1837. J. 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).
1881. Parochial 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.
a. 1445. [? Gascoign], Life St. Bridget, in in Myrr. our Ladye (1873), p. lii. When she was at Rome … she wente euery daye the Stacyons ordeyned by the churche.
c. 1461. Bale’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.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 1911. I have gon þe stacyones by and by.
1509. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 295. After dyner full truely she wolde goe her Statyons, to thre Aulters dayly.
a. 1540. J. Heywood, Four P., A j. Yet haue I been at Rome also And gone the stacions all arowe.
1574. Hellowes, 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 ye walls.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 182. They made us perform the Stations at three Altars.
1702. Marwood, 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.
1753. Challoner, 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.
1815. Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, Demol. Port Royal, III. 283. When he had finished his stations, be returned to his beloved solitude.
25. A special service held at a holy place.
1447. 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.
1554. trans. Doctr. Masse Bk., B vij b. The halowing of the fyre on Easter Euen. ¶ This wyse let there be a station vnto the fyre. Let the priest stand by the fyre,… and let ye deacon stand on his lefte hand, [etc.].
a. 1843. in 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.
1847. W. Reeves, Eccl. Antiq., 301. A holy well where the Roman Catholics of old held stations at midsummer.
1890. J. 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.
1637. Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., III. iv. 78. No man taketh the Stations to have beene occasionall, but only set fasts.
1673. Cave, 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.
a. 1711. Ken, Urania, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 451. She sacred Fasts and Stations strictly keeps, And for the publick Provocations weeps.
1909. C. Bigg, Orig. Chr., xv. 191. Further, they fasted commonly upon the ‘stations,’ that is to say, on all Wednesdays and Fridays, but these fasts were regarded as voluntary.
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 neighborhood the opportunity of confession.
1830. Carleton, 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.].
1844. Min. 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-building, -clerk, -door, -foreman, hotel, † -keeper, -platform, -porter, -yard; in sense 14, as station hack, property, stock; station-bred adj.; in sense 19, as station-boss, -building; in senses 23–26, as station-chapel, -vigil.
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.
1872. ‘Mark Twain,’ Roughing It, iv. (1882), 19. The *station buildings were long low huts, made of sun-dried, mud-coloured bricks.
1898. Engineering Mag., XVI. 77. One range of station buildings suffices for the travellers all the trains.
1890. A. J. C. Hare, S. E. France, 575. Seven *station-chapels rise … amongst the wormwood and lavender on the tufa rocks.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Station-clerk, a railway clerk.
1860. W. Collins, Woman in White, xiv. She set them down outside the *station-door.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 24 Dec., 7/2. *Station foreman.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 101. The ordinary *station-hacks.
1862. Bailey’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.
1846. Commerc. Mag., Oct., 134. He quitted the first-class carriage on reaching Rugby … desiring the *station-keeper to inform the directors, that [etc.].
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, vii. 75. The ‘boy’ … informed me that … an enormous lion was standing on the *station platform.
1886. W. 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.
1890. ‘Lyth,’ Golden South, 96. We invested ours in a large *station property, not caring for a gold-digger’s life.
1880. Town & Country Jrnl. (N.S.W.), 14 Feb., 314/4. The *station stock seldom feed near the road.
1898. Baylay, trans. Batiffol’s Hist. Rom. Breviary, 14. Sunday vigils, *station vigils, vigils in cemeteries, each comprising a triple office—evening, night, and morning.
1854. Mrs. Stowe, Sunny Memories, II. 184. We made a descent like an avalanche into the *station yard.
1886. Encycl. 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-bill Naut. (see quot.); 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 Australian, a man employed on a station; station hospital, a hospital attached to a military station; station-indicator (see quot. 1884); station-jack Australian, 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; station-line, (a) Perspective, the vertical line drawn through the point of sight (see also quot. 1704); (b) Surveying (see quot. 1875); 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.
1815. Falconer’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.
1560. in 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.
1563–83. Foxe, 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.
1637. Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., III. iv. 78. Their set dayes of 150 fasting, which were called Station dayes.
1898. W. Bright, Some Aspects Prim. Ch. Life, iii. § 2. 118. Wednesdays and Fridays [were] called ‘Station-days,’ apparently by adaptation of a term used for military duty.
1798. Hutton, Course Math. (1807), II. 67. Measure the distances from station to station…. And in measuring any of these *station-distances, mark accurately where [etc.].
1875. W. 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.
1888. W. 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.
1885. Rae, Chirps Austral. Sparrow, 99. Some *station hands had been in jail.
1894. H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., xxix. 271. The station hands, who have to go out at daybreak, generally have their main feed then.
1901. E. A. Birch, in Empire Rev., I. 435. The details of management of *station hospitals.
1884. Knight, 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.
1895. Daily News, 28 Nov., 5/4. The station indicator has been in experimental running on this Company’s Hounslow branch for many months past.
1853. Emigrant’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.’
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 19 Aug., 2/1. Giving me my first introduction to the mysteries of *station-keeping.
1898. Kipling, in Morn. Post, 5 Nov., 5/1. The ships haven’t worked together, and station-keeping isn’t as easy as it looks.
1704. J. 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.
c. 1791. Encycl. 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.
1798. Hutton, Course Math. (1828), II. 68. As you go along any main station-line, take offsets to the ends of all hedges [etc.].
1859. Ruskin, 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.
1875. W. 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.
1844. E. 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.
1859. Ruskin, 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.
1880. L. D’A. Jackson, Aids Surv.-Pract., 96. Some recorders use alphabetical letters to designate station-points.
1774. M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 24. Such an Instrument as this may be called a *Station-pointer.
1804. Nicholson’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.
1876. Catal. 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.
1880. L. D’A. Jackson, Aids Surv.-Pract., 112. The *station poles used as survey marks.
1835. Lond. 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.].
1890. Daily 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.
1901. Essex Weekly News, 13 Sept., 6/5. Station-Sergeant George Card was found in the station shot through the heart.
1758. Memoirs 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.
1658. Phillips, *Station-staff, an instrument used in Surveying, being a streight pole divided into feet, inches, and parts of inches, from the bottom upward.
1701. Moxon, 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.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 32, 2/1. 2 Station-Staves, with Moveable Vanes.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 359/2. Direct the object-end of the telescope successively to the station-staves held up on the different pickets.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 77. Þere þe pope syngeþ þe masse þre Sondayes in þe ȝere in þe *stacioun tyme.
1643. in 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.
