the.com/outpost
the last lit window before the map gives up and goes blank.
means A remote settlement, military station, or branch of an organization positioned far from the main center, often marking the edge of controlled or familiar territory.
from A transparent compound of "out" and "post" — "post" here in its military sense of an assigned station or position, from Latin "positus," "placed" (the same root behind "position" and "posit"). So an outpost is literally a station placed out beyond the main body, a guard set forward at the margin. The word grew up in military use, where a small detachment was "posted out" ahead of an army to watch for trouble, then spread to mean any far-flung foothold.
- latin root
- from positus, meaning placed or stationed forward
- loneliest job
- often a handful of people guarding vast emptiness
- space sense
- Mars bases are literally called outposts now
- trading roots
- frontier outposts birthed many modern cities
- early warning
- built to spot trouble before it arrives
fort jefferson — union military outpost in the gulf of mexico, built 1846-1875, largest masonry fort in the us
deadhorse alaska — arctic oil industry outpost on the north slope, population ~10, northernmost incorporated city in the us
concordia research station — franco-italian antarctic outpost established 1997, 3,233 meters elevation on dome c plateau