block·house

(blŏk′hous′)

1. A military fortification constructed of sturdy material, such as concrete, and designed with ports for defensive firing or observation.

2. A heavily reinforced building used for launch operations of missiles and space launch vehicles.

3. A fort made of squared timbers with a projecting upper story.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

blockhouse

(ˈblɒkˌhaʊs)

1. (Fortifications) (formerly) a wooden fortification with ports or loopholes for defensive fire, observation, etc

2. (Fortifications) a concrete structure strengthened to give protection against enemy fire, with apertures to allow defensive gunfire

3. (Architecture) a building constructed of logs or squared timber

4. (Astronautics) a reinforced concrete building close to a rocket-launching site for protecting personnel and equipment during launching

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

block•house

(ˈblɒkˌhaʊs)

n., pl. -hous•es (ˌhaʊ zɪz)

1. a building of hewn timbers, usu. with a projecting upper story, having loopholes for musketry: formerly used as a fort.

2. a defensive military structure, as of concrete, used for observation and directing gunfire.

3. a concrete structure for housing and protecting personnel and controls during rocket launchings.

[1505–15; < Middle Dutch blochuus]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

blockhouse - a stronghold that is reinforced for protection from enemy fire; with apertures for defensive fire

stronghold, fastness - a strongly fortified defensive structure

Translations

Blockhaus

centre de lancement

fortino

блокгауз

blockhouse

[ˈblɒkhaʊs] N (blockhouses (pl)) [ˈblɒkhaʊzɪz] → blocao m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

After penetrating through the brush, matted as it was with briars, for a few hundred feet, he entered an open space, that surrounded a low, green hillock, which was crowned by the decayed blockhouse in question.

"Few live who know the blockhouse was ever raised," was the slow and musing answer; "'tis not often that books are made, and narratives written of such a scrimmage as was here fou't atween the Mohicans and the Mohawks, in a war of their own waging.

Their dark persons were still to be seen within the shadows of the blockhouse, the son listening to the relation of his father with that sort of intenseness which would be created by a narrative that redounded so much to the honor of those whose names he had long revered for their courage and savage virtues.

Unwilling to prolong a useless discussion, the young man affected to comply, by posting his back against the logs of the blockhouse, in a half recumbent posture, though resolutely determined, in his own mind, not to close an eye until he had delivered his precious charge into the arms of Munro himself.

Lead the horses into the blockhouse, Uncas; and, friends, do you follow to the same shelter.

When the party reached the point where the horses had entered the thicket which surrounded the blockhouse, they were evidently at fault, having lost those marks which, until that moment, had directed their pursuit.

As he gazed upon the silent blockhouse, the moon fell upon his swarthy countenance, and betrayed its surprise and curiosity.

View in context

But the guns remained loaded, the loopholes in blockhouses and entrenchments looked out just as menacingly, and the unlimbered cannon confronted one another as before.

View in context

To the left a group of barren islets, suggesting ruins of stone walls, towers, and blockhouses, had its foundations set in a blue sea that itself looked solid, so still and stable did it lie below my feet; even the track of light from the west- ering sun shone smoothly, without that animated glitter which tells of an imperceptible ripple.

View in context

Search parties were set up and that same night Mary's body was found in a concrete blockhouse which was used as an anti-invasion fortress.

Bandage that led to murderer; Local historian STEVEN HORTON looks back at some of the city's most notorious murder cases ..

The 30 cleaners and mess hands who keep shipshape Fort Blockhouse, a naval base in Portsmouth Harbour, will receive PS1,900 compensation each with Compass subsidiary ESS forced to resume paying them annually for 52 instead of 50 weeks.

WOMEN FORT SO WELL