roundhouse

English

Etymology

round +‎ house

Noun

roundhouse (plural roundhouses)

1. (rail transport) A circular building in which locomotives are housed.
2. (martial arts) A punch or kick delivered with an exaggerated sweeping movement.
3. (archaeology) An Iron Age dwelling.
4. (nautical) The uppermost room or cabin of any note upon the stern of a ship.
5. (card games) In the game of pinochle, a meld consisting of a queen and king in each of the four suits.
6. A constable's prison; a lockup or station house.
7. (nautical) A privy near the bow of the vessel.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “roundhouse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Derived terms

• roundhouse kick

Related terms

• (rail transport) engine shed

Translations

a circular building in which locomotives are housed

• Czech: rotunda (cs) f
• Finnish: veturitalli
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: teach lár deice m
• Japanese: 円形機関車庫 (enkeikikanshakou)

Verb

1. To punch or kick with an exaggerated sweeping movement.
   • 2008 March 16, Nathaniel Fick, “Worries Over Being ‘Slimed’”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     We focused on the nerve-agent feint, and got roundhoused by the insurgent hook.

   • 2009, Diane Tullson, Riley Park (page 18)

     I'm on my feet and my fist is roundhousing and I feel flesh. I hit again, and teeth crack under my fist. I hear voices and they're shouting and a light burns into my face.