dogholes

Noun

doghole (plural dogholes)

1. (derogatory, idiomatic) A place regarded as fit only for dogs: a horrid, mean habitation.
   • But, cou’d you be content to bid adieu / To the dear Play-houſe, and the Players too, / Sweet Country Seats are purchas’d ev’ry where, / With Lands and Gardens, at leſs price, than here / You hire a darkſom Doghole by the year.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Third Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […]...
2. A small, shallow bay or inlet, usually surrounded by high cliffs, that is accessible only by smaller boats.
   • Not always this forbidding, some doghole ports like New Haven had safe handling records and managed to load 185 consecutive ships without an incident until the 130 ton Adelaide hit the rocks when a mooring chain broke.1983, Billy C. Lewis, “Doghole Schooners of the Redwood Coast”, in The Compass, page 22
3. A type of small schooner designed in the 19th century to navigate in shallow waters and to conduct coastal shipping in and out of doghole ports.
   • A far cry from the miserable existance^([sic]) of the common sailor brought about by bucko mates and bible preaching captains on the large ocean-going vessels, life aboard a doghole wasn't for everyone and losing your ship on the rocks or being rolled like a cork on a big wave chased many back to...1983, Billy C. Lewis, “Doghole Schooners of the Redwood Coast”, in The Compass, page 24
4. (slang) A mine worked by fewer than fifteen miners, which is small enough that some safety laws do not apply.
   • They know there are thousands of coal miners desperately in need of work, and they know the doghole operators cannot afford to pay these men union wages.1973, Gene L. Mason, Fred Vetter, The Politics of Exploitation, page 191
   1. (slang) Such a small mine that is dug independently by one or a few miners, often clandestinely and illegally: a bootleg mine.
5. An excavated area that acts as an access hole or that connects different parts of a mine.
   • The second doghole, driven at 385 feet to one of the pumping units, penetrated a water course, and within a few hours caved material had filled the shaft to 366 feet.1962, F. G. Schwartz, B. H. Eccleston, Survey of Research on Thermal Stability of Petroleum Jet Fuels, page 74

See all 12 meanings of doghole