caboose
Americannoun
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a car on a freight train, used chiefly as the crew's quarters and usually attached to the rear of the train.
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British. a kitchen on the deck of a ship; galley.
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Slang. the buttocks.
noun
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informal short for calaboose
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railways a guard's van, esp one with sleeping and eating facilities for the train crew
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nautical
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a deckhouse for a galley aboard ship or formerly in Canada, on a lumber raft
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the galley itself
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a mobile bunkhouse used by lumbermen, etc
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an insulated cabin on runners, equipped with a stove
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Etymology
Origin of caboose
1740–50; < early modern Dutch cabūse ( Dutch kabuis ) ship's galley, storeroom; compare Low German kabuus, kabüse, Middle Low German kabuse booth, shed; further origin uncertain
Explanation
A caboose is a train car that is usually at the end. If you are pulling up the rear, you could call yourself the caboose. The engine is the first car on a freight train, and the last car is usually the caboose. Besides being last, the other feature of a caboose is its use by the crew. Most of a freight train will be filled with whatever cargo they're transporting, and they need to use that space as efficiently as possible. The caboose is where the crew can hang out during the trip. If there's a kitchen on the train, it will usually be in the caboose.
Vocabulary lists containing caboose
Turtles All the Way Down
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Two Roads
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Lincoln's Grave Robbers
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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.
The group came together at Sedalia, Mo., high school, scrounged up money and bought a caboose from a local salvage yard.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
The band has kicked off previous albums in New York with great fanfare, once rolling down Fifth Avenue on a flatbed truck and on another occasion riding on a caboose into Grand Central Terminal.
From Reuters • Oct. 20, 2023
An old railroad caboose has been transformed into The Railway Cafe, offering coffee, light breakfast and lunch.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 26, 2023
It’s not for everyone, but going into the Train Shack, seeing Todd and Mindy and Chris and getting a new chimney for your Christmas caboose — that’s a good activity.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2023
When the train finally stopped, its caboose was maybe a hundred feet beyond the trestle.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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.
