dugout

Etymology

It is formed from English dug + out,^[2][3][4] dug being the past participle of dig.^[3][4] The OED allows either the adjective dug with the adverb, or a noun use of the past participle of the phrasal verb dig out,^[5] which Dictionary.com prefers.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A canoe made by hollowing out a large log: 1722, in American English, according to Barnhart and Etymonline.^[2][3] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1819,^[5] the date Merriam-Webster also gives,^[7] while Dictionary.com dates the word to 1715–25.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Later senses name other things dug out: in the United States a channel made by digging (1854) and a rough dwelling cut into a slope or bank and roofed with turf or canvas (1855).^[5][3][2] The Dictionary of American Regional English records such dwellings chiefly in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, as a thing of the past.^[8] In 1904 the word was applied to the roofed shelters of trench warfare,^[5] and in 1940 to an underground air-raid shelter.^[5] The shelter beside a baseball field where players sit, which Etymonline derives from the dwelling sense, is recorded from 1912 in the OED,^[5] but Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1914.^[2][3] Also from 1912, the slang dugout was a person with outdated looks or ideas, especially a retired officer recalled for temporary service.^[5][4] The adjective dug-out, hollowed out by digging, is quoted in the OED from 1886,^[5] though the Shorter Oxford dates it, especially of canoes, to the early 18th century.^[4] On the Canadian prairies a dugout is a reservoir dug on a farm to collect rain and meltwater.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1722 – American English, a canoe made from a hollowed log.^[2][3] The OED's first record is from 1819.^[5]
• 1854 – US, a channel made by digging.^[5]
• 1855 – a rough dwelling dug into a bank or slope.^[5][3][2]
• 1886 – adjective, hollowed out by digging.^[5]
• 1904 – a roofed shelter in trench warfare.^[5]
• 1912 – a shelter beside a sports field for players and staff.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1914.^[2][3]
• 1912 – slang, a person of outdated ideas; a retired officer recalled to service.^[5]
• 1940 – an underground air-raid shelter.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A canoe or boat made by hollowing out a large log.^{[7][9][11][5]}
2. A rough shelter or dwelling dug into a hillside or the ground and roofed over, especially one in a trench for protection from gunfire: The soldiers waited out the shelling in a dugout.^{[7][11][9][5]}
3. A low covered shelter beside a baseball field or other sports ground, where players and managers sit when not playing.^{[7][11][9][5]}
4. (slang) A retired officer or official called back to service; a person with outdated ideas.^[9][5][4]
5. (Canada) A reservoir dug on a prairie farm to collect rain and snowmelt.^[9][10]

Adjective

1. Hollowed out by digging; excavated.^[5][4]

Related words

• dig
• dig out
• dug

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Barber, Katherine, ed. (2004), The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt