Dictionary

gateman en · NOUN

Etymology

From gate + -man.

Meanings

1. A gatekeeper; a person who guards a gate.
   • The crossing caused serious congestion with long traffic hold-ups, and had been a bone of contention between the local authorities and the railway for over eighty years. It was controlled from Fletton Road Junction Signalbox (removed at the same time) and, until a wheel was installed in 1920, required two gatemen on each turn of duty. 1959 April 14, C. R. Clinker and R. A. Dane, “The Railways of Peterborough”, in Railway Magazine, page 230:
   • The cars built before 1913 had clerestory roofs, after the American style, and also were provided with gates and end vestibule platforms requiring gatemen. 1951 January, “The Inner Circle and its Rolling Stock”, in Railway Magazine, page 59:
   • The carriages - or cars - had gated platforms at the end, where 'gatemen' stood and controlled the flow of passengers on and off the trains in the absence of automatic doors. […] When each gateman had secured his doors and gate, he rang a bell, then the conductor rang his bell as the signal for the driver to set off. 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 147:

Forms