half-barrier

noun

At an automatic half-barrier level crossing, a lifting barrier that does not block the whole road when in the horizontal position, placed on the left side in the UK according to driving on the left, and mostly used on narrower or quieter roads instead of two lifting barriers either side of the railway crossing.

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Meanings

nounhalf-barrier (plural half-barriers)

plural half-barriers

  1. At an automatic half-barrier level crossing, a lifting barrier that does not block the whole road when in the horizontal position, placed on the left side in the UK according to driving on the left, and mostly used on narrower or quieter roads instead of two lifting barriers either side of the railway crossing.

    [...] all crossings with lifting half-barriers will be equipped in this way. [...]. At level crossings where there are to be half-barriers, train-operated through track-circuiting, the barriers will be timed to lower fully about five seconds before the fastest train can reach the crossing.

    1960 September, “Talking of Trains: New level-crossing signs”, in Trains Illustrated, page 519
Cite this entry
APA

half-barrier. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-barrier

MLA

“half-barrier.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-barrier. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “half-barrier,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-barrier.

Source: half-barrier on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.