blockhouse

[ blok-hous ]

noun

, plural block·hous·es [blok, -hou-ziz].

1. Military. a fortified structure with ports or loopholes through which defenders may direct gunfire.
2. Also called garrison house. (formerly) a building, usually of hewn timber and with a projecting upper story, having loopholes for musketry.
3. a house built of squared logs.
4. Rocketry. a structure near a launching site for rockets, generally made of heavily reinforced concrete, for housing and protecting personnel, electronic controls, and auxiliary apparatus before and during launching operations.

blockhouse

/ ˈblɒkˌhaʊs /

noun

1. (formerly) a wooden fortification with ports or loopholes for defensive fire, observation, etc
2. a concrete structure strengthened to give protection against enemy fire, with apertures to allow defensive gunfire
3. a building constructed of logs or squared timber
4. a reinforced concrete building close to a rocket-launching site for protecting personnel and equipment during launching

Word History and Origins

Origin of blockhouse¹

1505–15; < Middle Dutch blochuus, equivalent to bloc block + huus house

Example Sentences

Pte Malcolm, a stretcher bearer, was found when unidentified remains were recovered from a shell hole outside a German blockhouse in Fusilier Wood, near Klein-Zillebeke, Belgium.

From BBC

Others are posing on the porch of an officer’s house and in front of the blockhouse, which are still on the property.

From Seattle Times

The Blockhouse in Central Park is “basically part of my weed history,” said Sarah Pagan.

From New York Times

Back then she lived with her parents in Brooklyn, and the couple stumbled onto the Blockhouse, originally used as a wartime fort, tucked away on a trail that overlooks the park.

From New York Times

Few, though, wander over to see the actual Fort Kent, a wooden blockhouse constructed during the Aroostook War of 1838-9, a border dispute between England and the United States that ended without a shot being fired.

From New York Times

Related Words

• barricade
• citadel
• fortress
• reinforcement