gateway

Etymology

From gate + way.

noun

1. An entrance capable of being blocked by use of a gate.
   The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, […]. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess
2. A place regarded as giving access to somewhere.
   The staff offer a touch of Norfolk courtesy as they guide passengers onto connecting services. The bustling concourse has a wide selection of information and retail, including a very active city tourism presence. This station now feels like a real gateway to Norwich. December 30 2020, Richard Clinnick, “Greater Anglia strikes again...”, in Rail, page 43
3. Any point that represents the beginning of a transition from one place or phase to another.
   1. (attributive) Any thing or area of interest that tends to lead to deeper involvement.
      a gateway drug
      Just as they say that marijuana leads to harder drugs, Gallegly is claiming that crush is a “gateway fetish”—a term I've never heard before. He claims that if someone starts with bugs they'll end up escalating to human babies in no time. 2000, Katharine Gates, Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex, page 137
      According to Mellody, love addiction is a gateway addiction leading to additional addictions: to sex, food, drugs, alcohol, and so on. 2012, Robert McRuer, Anna Mollow, Sex and Disability, page 327
4. A point at which freight moving from one territory to another is interchanged between transportation lines.
5. (digital communications) In wireless internet, an access point with additional software capabilities such as providing NAT and DHCP, which may also provide VPN support, roaming, firewalls, various levels of security, etc.

verb

1. (transitive, digital communications) To make available via a gateway, or access point.