pointsman

American  

[points-muhn] / ˈpɔɪnts mən /

noun

British.

plural

pointsmen

1. a railway switchman.

2. a police officer who directs traffic, as at an intersection.

---

pointsman British  

/ -mən, ˈpɔɪntsˌmæn /

noun

1. US and Canadian equivalent: switchman.  a person who operates railway points

2. a policeman or traffic warden on point duty

---

Etymology

Origin of pointsman

First recorded in 1840–50; point + -s ³ + man

Example Sentences

Pompeo had told Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in a separate meeting in Helsinki that Russia’s pointsman for the Ukraine, Vladislav Surkov, needed to engage constructively with U.S. envoy Kurt Volker.

From Washington Post • Jul. 20, 2018

He said he was a pointsman, and I asked him if he would send a train down a wrong line for fifty pounds.

From Ideala by Grand, Sarah

OZIL, a pointsman at the junction for Dieppe, between the tunnel and the station of Malaunay.

From A Zola Dictionary; the Characters of the Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola; by Patterson, J. G

In a few seconds it reached and passed the place where the siding was connected with the main line, and where a pointsman stood ready to shift the points.

From The Iron Horse by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

A few days after this interview with the pointsman I was talking to Sister Dora, and said: 'By the bye, Sister, I have found out where you went with the cab that day.'

From Heroines That Every Child Should Know Tales for Young People of the World's Heroines of All Ages by Various