dugout

American  

[duhg-aut] / ˈdʌgˌaʊt /

noun

• dugouts
  plural

1. a boat made by hollowing out a log.

2. Baseball. a roofed structure enclosed on three sides and with the fourth side open and facing the playing field, usually with the floor below ground level, where the players sit when not on the field.

3. a rough shelter or dwelling formed by an excavation in the ground, in the face of a bank, in the side of a hill, etc., especially one used by soldiers.

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dugout British  

/ ˈdʌɡˌaʊt /

noun

1. a canoe made by hollowing out a log

2. military a covered excavation dug to provide shelter

3. slang a retired officer, former civil servant, etc, recalled to employment

4. (at a sports ground) the covered bench where managers, trainers, etc sit and players wait when not on the field

5. (in the Canadian prairies) a reservoir dug on a farm in which water from rain and snow is collected for use in irrigation, watering livestock, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dugouts
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of dugout

1715–25, noun use of verb phrase dug out

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Explanation

In baseball, a dugout is the area reserved for one team to sit while players wait for their turn at bat. Each team has its own dugout. A dugout is typically a low structure with a roof that's open at the front so the players can see the baseball field. One team's dugout is in the foul zone between third base and home plate, and the other's is between first base and home plate. Baseball dugouts are named for the original dugouts, temporary military trenches where troops shelter during battle. A boat made from a hollowed out log is another kind of dugout.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dugout dugouts

On the ground, peering out of a dugout, three Ukrainian troops aimed their rifles at the approaching man.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

When Cash took the helm of Tampa Bay’s dugout in 2015, the idea of the Rays bunting this frequently would have been unfathomable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Roberts strode from the dugout to pull him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

Hernández tossed his bat back toward the home dugout, and it sliced through the air end-over-end.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

I’m behind the bleachers in back of the third-base dugout with the blue and black suitcases open on the ground.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner

Before their Championship debut, Wrexham added new TV gantries, moved the dugouts and spent £2m on adding under-soil heating to the pitch.

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026

Instead, he has spent the last years in dugouts around Ukraine.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026

His face bore the extreme exhaustion typical of men who have spent too long in front-line dugouts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026

Crew chief Marvin Hudson emerged from the huddle and issued warnings to both dugouts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025

A tall wooden shack housed the cage elevator, which carried miners one to two hundred feet underground, where they would disperse into various dugouts called rooms, each supported by a single wooden pillar.

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

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