interchange

From Old French entrechange, by surface analysis, inter- +‎ change.

• Rhymes: -eɪndʒ

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭntə(r)chānj', IPA^(key): /ɪntə(ɹ)ˈtʃeɪndʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭntərchānj', IPA^(key): /ɪntɚˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭn'tə(r)chānj, IPA^(key): /ˈɪntə(ɹ).tʃeɪndʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭn'tərchānj, IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɚt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

interchange (third-person singular simple present interchanges, present participle interchanging, simple past and past participle interchanged)

1. (transitive) to switch (each of two things)

   to interchange places

2. (transitive) to mutually give and receive (something); to exchange
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:

     I shall interchange / My waned state for Henry's regal crown.

3. (intransitive) to swap or change places
   • 1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 260:

     The poem is written in an alef-lamed, bet-nun acrostic form. This is a formula of permutation of letters wherein the first interchanges with the twelfth, the second with the thirteenth, etc.

4. (transitive) to alternate; to intermingle or vary

   to interchange cares with pleasures

5. (transport) To act as or carry out an interchange (noun, senses 2, 3).
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 274:

     But those 13 miles go through central London, and where the Underground interchanges with Crossrail, its own stations will be boosted and glamorised, especially at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road.

   • 2020 March 25, William Barter, “HS2: Euston or Old Oak Common?”, in Rail, page 59:

     The expectation is that about one-third of passengers will choose to interchange at Old Oak, while two-thirds will prefer to travel on to Euston.

• (to switch each of two things): exchange, swap; See also Thesaurus:switch
• (to mutually give and receive something): exchange, trade; See also Thesaurus:trade
• (to change places):
• (to alternate): See also Thesaurus:alternate or Thesaurus:mix

interchange (countable and uncountable, plural interchanges)

1. (countable, uncountable) An act of interchanging.
   • 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     That was one of three superb saves Hennessey made in the opening 45 minutes, the best of which was from Dzeko, who had been released by a slick interchange involving Silva and Sergio Aguero.

2. (countable) A highway junction in which traffic may change from one road to another without crossing a stream of traffic.
3. (countable) A junction in which traffic may merge to enter or diverge to exit a limited-access highway to access a surface street, without crossing traffic on the main highway.
4. (rail transport, countable) A connection between two or more lines, services or modes of transport; a station at which such a connection can be made.

   Holborn tube station is the only interchange between the London Underground Central and Piccadilly Lines.

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:

     Moving on again, I catch another GWR Class 802 bound for Oxford via the Cotswold Line. Our first stop is at one of the newest stations on the network - Worcestershire Parkway, which opened on February 23. It's a four-platform (actually three-platform) split-level interchange with the line from Birmingham to Bristol.

5. A back-and-forth interaction; an exchange.
   • 1984 December 15, Nancy Walker, “Remembering David Stryker”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 22, page 5:

     David and I were not "intimate" friends. There was always a certain old-worldly formality about our interchanges. There was something professorial and distant about David, something that commanded respect, partially, I think, because he was so respectful himself.

Generally the rail transport sense of "interchange" applies to connections within the same station, or from two close-by stations. Sometimes, especially within the context of public transport in London, "interchange" is restricted to within-station connections only with outerchange used for those that involve leaving the station.

• (antonym(s) of “rail transport”): outerchange (in some contexts only, see usage notes)

• “interchange”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.