dugout

[duhg-out]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dugout ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a boat made by hollowing out a log.

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.

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.

Origin of dugout

1715–25, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase dug out

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for dugout

cellar, cave, shelter, excavation, hollow, foxhole

Examples from the Web for dugout

Contemporary Examples of dugout

During the season, he regularly takes a dugout seat where he can work on his tan.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up
Tom Boswell
September 27, 2014
When he gets back to the dugout he'll tell us why before we can ask.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up
Tom Boswell
September 27, 2014
The dugout was covered with semi-circular sheets of corrugated iron, forming a vaulted roof.
Life Under Air Strikes: Children Under Fire Will Never Forget — or Forgive
Clive Irving
August 3, 2014
One afternoon, with [Babe] Dahlgren near him in the dugout, a photographer asked Lou if he could take a photo of the two of them.
The Stacks: The Day Lou Gehrig Delivered Baseball’s Gettysburg Address
Ray Robinson
July 4, 2014
He sported hair curlers in the dugout, took handfuls of amphetamines before games, and pitched a no-hitter on LSD.
‘No No,’ a Documentary on MLB Pitcher Dock Ellis, Who Pitched a No-Hitter While Tripping on Acid
Marlow Stern
February 5, 2014

Historical Examples of dugout

I caught the body, pulled it back into the dugout, but it was too late.
Slaves of Mercury
Nat Schachner
I didn't wait for more, but scrambled out of the dugout as fast as I could.
Slaves of Mercury
Nat Schachner
It was his first acquaintance with a dugout, nor was he impressed with the comfort it displayed.
The Night Riders
Ridgwell Cullum
He might even have wondered how the logs of that dugout had been hauled to the shelf on which it stood.
The Night Riders
Ridgwell Cullum
A flood of wintry sunshine suffused the interior of the dugout.
The Hound From The North
Ridgwell Cullum

British Dictionary definitions for dugout

dugout

noun

a canoe made by hollowing out a log

military a covered excavation dug to provide shelter

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

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

(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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dugout

also dug-out, "canoe," 1722, American English, from dug, past participle of dig (v.) + out (adv.). Baseball sense is first recorded 1914, from c.1855 meaning of "rough shelter."