caboose

American  

[kuh-boos] / kəˈbus /

noun

1. a car on a freight train, used chiefly as the crew's quarters and usually attached to the rear of the train.

2. British. a kitchen on the deck of a ship; galley.

3. Slang. the buttocks.

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caboose British  

/ kəˈbuːs /

noun

1. informal short for calaboose

2. railways a guard's van, esp one with sleeping and eating facilities for the train crew

3. nautical

   1. a deckhouse for a galley aboard ship or formerly in Canada, on a lumber raft

   2. the galley itself

4. 1. a mobile bunkhouse used by lumbermen, etc

   2. an insulated cabin on runners, equipped with a stove

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Etymology

Origin of caboose

1740–50; < early modern Dutch cabūse ( Dutch kabuis ) ship's galley, storeroom; compare Low German kabuus, kabüse, Middle Low German kabuse booth, shed; further origin uncertain

Example Sentences

The group came together at Sedalia, Mo., high school, scrounged up money and bought a caboose from a local salvage yard.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

The band has kicked off previous albums in New York with great fanfare, once rolling down Fifth Avenue on a flatbed truck and on another occasion riding on a caboose into Grand Central Terminal.

From Reuters • Oct. 20, 2023

An old railroad caboose has been transformed into The Railway Cafe, offering coffee, light breakfast and lunch.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 26, 2023

“If disability is on the caboose of the writing chain, we will be the first people to get pushed out of jobs,” he tells The Times.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 26, 2023

This is the kind cattle are transported in—a dark wooden crate with the barest slits for ventilation, the cars linked so long that I can't see the engine or the caboose.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper

Related Words

• box
• camp
• chalet
• compartment
• cottage
• home
• hut
• lodge
• room
• shack
• shanty
• shed
• shelter