noun
roundhouse
A circular building for storing or servicing locomotives.
Workers repair an old steam locomotive inside the railroad's roundhouse.
Etymology
The compound directly names the building’s circular arrangement. Railway roundhouses placed locomotive stalls around a central turning area.
More examples
- The turntable lines up the locomotive with a stall in the roundhouse.
- Several locomotives spend the winter in the roundhouse.
- The museum preserves one of the state's oldest roundhouses.
Forms
roundhouse · roundhouses
Similar words
- engine house
- A broader term for buildings housing engines, including locomotives.
- engine shed
- Houses locomotives but need not have a circular layout.