GPSes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of GPS.

   The rental fleet equipped all its trucks with GPSes after the routing mistakes.

   Older GPSes often lacked the live traffic updates that phones now provide.

   Note

   A plural that counts devices rather than the satellite network. The countable GPS is short for GPS receiver, so GPSes are the units fitted in trucks or carried by hand, while the system itself stays singular. Because the letters end in an s sound, the plural adds -es. Be aware that GPS can itself be the plural of GP, so the context has to settle which word is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of GPS.

   The dispatcher GPSes each delivery vehicle to track its progress in real time.

   Whenever the hiker reaches a junction, she GPSes her position for the record.

   Note

   The verb made from the initialism is transitive, so GPSes needs an object: the dispatcher GPSes each vehicle, and the hiker GPSes her position. It is spelled exactly like the plural of the devices, and only the sentence tells the two apart. A singular subject before it marks the verb. A word like the or older before it marks the noun.

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