roundhouse

[ round-hous ]

noun

, plural round·hous·es [round, -hou-ziz].

1. a building for the servicing and repair of locomotives, built around a turntable in the form of some part of a circle.
2. Nautical. a cabin on the after part of a quarterdeck.
3. 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.
4. Also called round trip. Pinochle. a meld of one king and queen of each suit.

roundhouse

/ ˈraʊndˌhaʊs /

noun

1. a circular building in which railway locomotives are serviced or housed, radial tracks being fed by a central turntable
2. slang.
   boxing
   1. a swinging punch or style of punching
   2. ( as modifier )

      a roundhouse style

3. pinochle a meld of all four kings and queens
4. an obsolete word for jail
5. obsolete.
   a cabin on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship

Word History and Origins

Origin of roundhouse¹

First recorded in 1580–90; round ¹ + house

Example Sentences

The artefacts were unearthed at a Bronze Age settlement of wooden roundhouses built over a river channel at Must Farm at Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire.

From BBC

Urías throws a roundhouse punch with his pitching hand and unleashes a stream of expletives in Spanish.

From Los Angeles Times

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

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

In the third quarter, he picked off a Washington pass and went in for an uncontested roundhouse dunk.

From Washington Times

Related Words

• bat
• blow
• punch
• shot
• swing