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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Clapham Junction en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (UK) audio
  • /klæpəm d͡ʒʌŋkʃən/ (UK)

Meanings

  1. (figuratively, uncountable) Somewhere where many paths – either literal routes of travel or metaphorical lines – cross.
    • All these can be grasped in half an hour by those who want to understand more clearly this Clapham Junction of the sciences that we call the digital computer. 1967, New Society:
    • Lizzie's face is a Clapham Junction of lines, wrinkles, shadows and tunnelling dirt. 2007, Miranda Miller, Loving Mephistopheles, Peter Owen Publishers:
    • When they had reached this Clapham Junction of the local highway system, Mr. Hayward halted a moment in doubt , and pointed ahead inquiringly to one out of the three main routes that branched off in various directions . 1896, Grant Allen, Under Sealed Orders: A Novel, page 49:
    • The mouth of the Atlantic, between Ushant and the South of Ireland, is a Clapham Junction of the ocean trade routes. 1953, Investors Chronicle and Money Market Review:
    • Dr. F. W. BUNTING favours more rigid isolation of actual cases and avoidance of large assemblies - particularly children's film matinées which he described as a Clapham Junction for virus dissemination. 1948, The Lancet, page 114:

Clapham Junction en · PROPN

Pronunciation

  • (UK) audio
  • /klæpəm d͡ʒʌŋkʃən/ (UK)

Meanings

  1. A major rail transport hub in south-west London, England, which has the distinction of being the busiest railway station in Britain.
    • It has never been satisfactorily explained how Clapham Junction came by its name. It is in Mid-Battersea, and is so indicated in Bradshaw. 1951 March, M. D. Greville, “The Nomenclature of Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 193:
  2. The surrounding area in the London Borough of Wandsworth (OS grid ref TQ2775).