Definition of "gateway" []

• An opening or a structure framing an opening, such as an arch, that may be closed by a gate. (noun)
• Something that serves as an entrance or a means of access: a gateway to success; the gateway to the West. (noun)
• Software or hardware that enables communication between computer networks that use different communications protocols. Also called router2. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "South Carolina holds what it calls the gateway-to-the-South Republican primary."
• "Funny thing is, the gateway is the cause of the rapid societal collapse."
• "We do have these, what they call gateway systems or repeaters, that allow us to transition from different kinds of systems that don't match directly but we can interface them through this gateway."