colour light signal

noun

An electric railway signal with colour aspects, showing either red or green in a 2-aspect signal, with the addition of a yellow or double yellow aspect (meaning caution) in 3- and 4-aspect signals.

Meanings

nouncolour light signal (plural colour light signals)

plural colour light signals · alternative colour-light signal · alternative color light signal · alternative color-light signal

  1. UKrail transportAn electric railway signal with colour aspects, showing either red or green in a 2-aspect signal, with the addition of a yellow or double yellow aspect (meaning caution) in 3- and 4-aspect signals.
    1 more example

    Colour-light signals, for both day and night work, came into use at a much later date, and their first use on any scale in this country was on the London underground railways, where the principle adopted was largely American in origin. But although light signalling is credited to America, one of the first instances of its use was an experimental installation at Herne Hill, although it did not find favour in this country for overground working until some fifty years later.

    1955 April, R. H. Warring, “Some Early Railway Signals”, in Railway Magazine, pages 231-232

    Synonyms: colour light

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn electric railway signal with colour aspects, showing either red or green in a 2-aspect signal, with the addition of a yellow or double yellow aspect (meaning caution) in 3- and 4-aspect signals.

Translations

Finnish valo-opastin
  • valo-opastinrailway signal
Cite this entry
APA

colour light signal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colour%20light%20signal

MLA

“colour light signal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colour%20light%20signal. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “colour light signal,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colour%20light%20signal.

Source: colour light signal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.