Among the definitions on Wiktionary for turnpike are:
A frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of animals, but admitting a person to pass between the arms; a turnstile.
and
A gate or bar set across a road to stop carriages, animals, and sometimes people, until a toll is paid; a tollgate.
Is one of these the origin of the word? Did turnpike refer to more of a turnstile device or a single-bar traffic gate, or something else?
Best Answer
According to the OED, the earliest meaning is of a spiked barrier fixed in or across a road or passage as a defensive work; later writers identify it with the cheval de frise. The earliest example is from Middle English ca. 1420:
The sense of turnpike as a horizontal cross of timber turning on a vertical pin (a turnstile) is attested from 1545, and the turnpike as a barrier across a road used to prevent passage until payment of a toll is from the late 17th century. From there, of course, it came to refer to the road controlled by a turnpike, whence its use in the U.S. for certain toll roads.