Definition of "turnstile" [turn•stile]

• A mechanical device used to control passage from one public area to another, typically consisting of several horizontal arms supported by and radially projecting from a central vertical post and allowing only the passage of individuals on foot. (noun)
• A similar structure that permits the passage of an individual once a charge has been paid or that counts the number of individuals passing through. (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.

• "They drew three million customers this year, led the league in turnstile clicks, in a place where just a few miles either direction, the main population base is crows."
• "In real life, however, Afghanistan is as Richard Nixon put it in The Real War, "has long been a cockpit of great-power intrigue for the same reason that it used to be called the turnstile of Asia's fate"."
• "Beyond the turnstile was a passage with walls painted white."