DCHP-2

dugout DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 n.

  a canoe hewn from a single log

  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.

  See also: dam ((2))  farm dugout  pothole (def. 3b)  scoop-out  

  • 1947  If there are streams they can be dammed, if not then the pioneer has to rely on "dug-outs" cut in clay soil, in which he can collect surface water or winter snow.
  • 1953  The water-filled dugouts on thousands of Saskatchewan farms bear its imprint.
  • 1964  [She] . . . drowned Saturday in a dugout on a farm near this [Alberta] community. . . .