staging post

staging post (plural staging posts)

1. An intermediate stopping point.

   Synonyms: staging area, staging point, staging base, stopover

   • [2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nepmos:

     Shepard: Why are you out here in the first place?
     Lieutenant Durand: There's been a lot of pirate activity in this cluster. We set up a chain of listening posts in the local systems in case they have a staging base.]

2. (figuratively) A well-defined point in a process where one can rest or regroup.

• “staging post”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “staging post”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “staging post” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “staging post” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “staging post”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.