cyclone cellar

American  

noun

1. a cellar or other underground place for shelter from cyclones and tornadoes.

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Etymology

Origin of cyclone cellar

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

Example Sentences

They found uncivic his Tornado, showing Kansans scuttling into a cyclone cellar as a giant cornucopia of wind marches across the darkened prairie.

From Time Magazine Archive

Putting his family safely away into a cyclone cellar he stood at the cellar door, watched.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sniffles, the barber, jumped quickly into his armor-plated working clothes, and Mike, with a sad smile of farewell, crawled into the cyclone cellar and closed the steel doors.

From The Silly Syclopedia by Lott, Noah [pseud.]

I had heard of Kansas cyclones, had been shown a "cyclone cellar," and only the day before had taken dinner in a house of which one end had been blown clean off by a cyclone.

From The Story of Chautauqua by Hurlbut, Jesse Lyman

We all know that marriage is like the weather, mighty uncertain, but that ain't no reason for you to live in the cyclone cellar expecting the tornado to come.

From Drusilla with a Million by Cooper, Elizabeth