See also: dugout canoe
- 1840  We have travelled by rail-road, stage, steam-boat, schooner and dug out.
- 1966  Dugouts were sometimes used, made from a hollow tree if possible, to avoid the work of burning and chopping out the wood.
2 n. a shelter made by excavating, usually in the side of a hill, often serving as a temporary dwelling.
- 1888  (1890)  All the people here, who have poultry, find the necessity of keeping them very warm, and either make them "dug-outs" or else comfortable wooden houses.
- 1958  In some cases the first "house" was a "dug-out." This was a cave that was dug in a low hillside. The front was built up of stones and sod.
3 n. Prairies a large shallow excavation intended to hold the spring run-off and rain, serving as a reservoir.