blockhouse
Americannoun
plural
blockhouses-
Military. a fortified structure with ports or loopholes through which defenders may direct gunfire.
-
Also called garrison house. (formerly) a building, usually of hewn timber and with a projecting upper story, having loopholes for musketry.
-
a house built of squared logs.
-
Rocketry. a structure near a launching site for rockets, generally made of heavily reinforced concrete, for housing and protecting personnel, electronic controls, and auxiliary apparatus before and during launching operations.
noun
-
(formerly) a wooden fortification with ports or loopholes for defensive fire, observation, etc
-
a concrete structure strengthened to give protection against enemy fire, with apertures to allow defensive gunfire
-
a building constructed of logs or squared timber
-
a reinforced concrete building close to a rocket-launching site for protecting personnel and equipment during launching
Etymology
Origin of blockhouse
1505–15; < Middle Dutch blochuus, equivalent to bloc block + huus house
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Back then she lived with her parents in Brooklyn, and the couple stumbled onto the Blockhouse, originally used as a wartime fort, tucked away on a trail that overlooks the park.
From New York Times • Jul. 1, 2021
Blockhouse Point Conservation Park, 630 acres, is considered one of the county’s standout natural areas.
From Washington Post • Jun. 7, 2017
I’d never seen the Blockhouse; its existence was a complete shock to me.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 25, 2015
Many Indians died and were buried along the route in the vicinity of the Cadron Blockhouse during the Trail of Tears.
From Washington Times • Sep. 6, 2015
Where the trail from Tennessee crosses from Thunderhead to Haw Gap he had swerved off from the divide, and he discovered his error somewhere in the neighborhood of Blockhouse.
From Our Southern Highlanders by Kephart, Horace
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
