dug-out

Noun

dugout (plural dugouts)

1. (An object or person.) A canoe made from a hollowed-out log.
   • Kurtz had apparently intended to return himself, the station being by that time bare of goods and stores, but after coming three hundred miles, had suddenly decided to go back, which he started to do alone in a small dug-out with four paddlers, leaving the half-caste to continue down the river with...1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II, pages 479–480

   Synonyms:

   dugout canoe, logboat, periagua

2. (historical, slang, An object or person.) Someone with old-fashioned or outdated ideas, an old fogey; especially, an elderly soldier brought in for temporary service.
   • Directly war comes, therefore, there is a shift all round, and a new untried man—usually a dug-out in an advanced state of decay—is stuck into the job.1916, HG Wells, Mr Britling Sees it Through, London: Hogarth Press, published 1985, page 232
3. (slang, An object or person.) A small portable case for equipment used to smoke marijuana.
4. (Canadian-Prairies, An object or person.) A pit used to catch and store rainwater or runoff.
5. (A shelter.) A rough dwelling consisting of an excavation in the ground, typically roofed with turf or basic sheeting.
6. (A shelter.) Hence, a shelter used in trench warfare, used for simple accommodation out of enemy fire.
   • The key unit of life here is the dugout – what the soldiers call a ‘blindage’ – an underground burrow where half a dozen men share the narrow space between the bunks with weapons, ammunition, biscuits, tea bags, and a jumble of other essentials (there is also usually a cat, not to mention the mice).2017 January 14, Roland Oliphant, “Special report: Loose cannons at the frontline of Ukraine's forgotten war”, in The Telegraph

See all 7 meanings of dugout