police box; small neighborhood police station; koban
The common everyday meaning: a small local police station or police box where officers are stationed, found in neighborhoods, near stations, and at busy intersections.
I asked for directions at the police box in front of the station.
I took the lost item to a nearby police box.
A much less common noun meaning alternation or doing something by turns. In modern Japanese, 交替 or 交代 is usually the plainer choice; 交番 in this sense is more formal or found in set phrases such as 昼夜交番.
In older writing, the expression 昼夜交番で働く, meaning to work in day-and-night alternation, can be seen.
noun-modifying (irregular)
alternating; alternating current or stress
Technical prenominal use in physics and engineering, as in 交番電流 or 交番応力. It modifies another noun rather than being used like an ordinary adjective.
In this experiment, alternating stress is applied to the material.
An alternating current is a current whose direction changes over time.
I turned in the wallet I found at the police box.
I asked for directions at the police box in front of the station.
I got scared and rushed into the police box.
mobile police box; moving police box