roundhouse
Americannoun
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a building for the servicing and repair of locomotives, built around a turntable in the form of some part of a circle.
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Nautical. a cabin on the after part of a quarterdeck.
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Slang. a punch in which the arm is typically brought straight out to the side or rear of the body and in which the fist describes an exaggerated circular motion.
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Also called round trip. Pinochle. a meld of one king and queen of each suit.
noun
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a circular building in which railway locomotives are serviced or housed, radial tracks being fed by a central turntable
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slang boxing
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a swinging punch or style of punching
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( as modifier )
a roundhouse style
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pinochle a meld of all four kings and queens
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an obsolete word for jail
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obsolete a cabin on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of roundhouse
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.
See Examples For:
He left the Air Force in 1962 and set up a martial arts studio in Los Angeles, finding his calling in teaching and delivering roundhouse kicks.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
They learn to throw straight punches, elbow strikes, knee strikes and roundhouse kicks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2026
Encircling the footprint of each roundhouse were "middens," haloes of rubbish dumped from the stilt village above, included broken pots, butchered animal bone, and "coprolites" or fossilised faeces.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024
In the third quarter, he picked off a Washington pass and went in for an uncontested roundhouse dunk.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 1, 2023
My first job was carrying lunches to the men who worked in the roundhouse, for which I received twenty-five cents a week.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
Celtic roundhouses and a prince's court are among the ancient buildings found in this green and quiet corner of the capital.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
One of the main roundhouses, with almost fifty square metres of floor space, appeared to have distinct activity zones comparable to rooms in a modern home.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024
The inhabitants lived in a clutch of thatched roundhouses built on wooden stilts above a channel of the River Nene, which empties into the North Sea.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2024
They fought with jabs from a kid quarterback, roundhouses from acrobatic receivers and knockdowns by giant linemen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2017
But that doesn't go in the cabs, and the roundhouses, and the section shanties on the Hill Division.
From The Night Operator by Packard, Frank L. (Frank Lucius)
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.
