Dictionary

caboose en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /kəˈbuːs/

Etymology

From Dutch kabuis, kombuis (“galley, kitchen”) or German Low German Kabüüs (“galley”), from Middle Dutch cabûse and Middle Low German kabûs, kabûse respectively. Cognate with German Kabüse, Kombüse, Danish kabys, Swedish kabyss, French combuse (< Middle Dutch kabuys). Probably related to English boose (“a stall or shed”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A small galley or cookhouse on the deck of a small vessel.
2. (historical) A small sand-filled container used as an oven on board ship.
   • On the second day out, while sailing moderately on our course in the Gulf Stream, a sudden squall of wind struck the ship from the SW. and knocked her completely on her beam-ends, stove one of our boats, entirely destroyed two others, and threw down the cambouse. 1821, Owen Chase, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex …:
   • The kitchens were kept separate because cooking was done in a caboose, a wooden box filled with sand and heated by a wood fire. 2002, Don Philpott, Cayman Islands:
   • This stove is to be made in the form of a Franklin, but is to be furnished with an oven, and other means of cooking; its appearance is therefore more like that of the old fashioned caboose, than of a Franklin stove. 1841, Journal of the Franklin Institute, page 113:
   • A tremendous billow, fringed with foam, swept over our deck, carrying the cook's caboose, cooking utensils and stove right overboard into the sea. 1881, Eliza Davies, The Story of an Earnest Life, page 226:
3. (US) The last car on a freight train, consisting of cooking and sleeping facilities for the crew; a guard’s van.
4. (childish, euphemistic, slang) The buttocks.
   • That's a pretty big caboose for a baby. 2001 March 11, John Frink and Don Payne, Bye, Bye, Nerdie (The Simpsons), spoken by Homer Simpson:
5. (slang) The person or team in last place.
6. (in-compounds, informal, often) A youngest child who is born after a long gap in time.
   • Jimmy was seven and had just finished first grade, so that made Nancy our caboose baby — our bonus child — our swan song. 1987, Harriet Wallace Rose, Something's Wrong with My Child!:
   • After looking back on her own experience, she thought of some ways parents could help ease the transition for their caboose kid. 2007, Beth K. Vogt, Baby Changes Everything, page 145:
   • "Caboose" children, the late-born last offspring in the family, didn't suffer from this as much. 1987, Growing Child Research Review - Volumes 5-7:

Forms

Synonyms

guard's van

Translations (43)

sv sladdbarn (youngest child) · pl kambuz (nautical: portable oven) · es pompis (babytalk: buttocks) · nl achterste (babytalk: buttocks) · de Hintern (babytalk: buttocks) · af laatlammetjie (youngest child) · es furgón de cola (last car on a train) · de Kombüse (nautical: small galley) · pl najmłodsze dziecko (youngest child) · nl poep (babytalk: buttocks) · cs posledníček (youngest child) · es colista (sports: person or team in the last place) · ru за́дница (babytalk: buttocks) · cmn 守車 /守车 (last car on a train) · fi iltatähti (youngest child) · da efternøler (youngest child) · es vagón de cola (last car on a train) · de Güterzugbegleitwagen (last car on a train) · fi jarruvaunu (last car on a train) · pl kambuz (nautical: small galley) · ru за́дний тормозно́й ваго́н (last car on a train) · fi peränpitäjä (sports: person or team in the last place) · ru ка́мбуз (nautical: small galley) · pl tyłek (babytalk: buttocks) · ru тормозно́й ваго́н сза́ди (last car on a train) · pl przegrany (sports: person or team in the last place) · fi peppu (babytalk: buttocks) · de Bremserwagen (last car on a train) · es cabús (last car on a train) · pl przegrana (sports: person or team in the last place) · ru аутса́йдер (sports: person or team in the last place) · es colita (babytalk: buttocks) · cy ceginfa (nautical: small galley) · cs výškrabek (youngest child) · eo postaĵo (babytalk: buttocks) · cs podškrabek (youngest child) · cs vejškrabek (youngest child) · pl tylny wagon (last car on a train) · nn attpåklatt (youngest child) · fi hännänhuippu (sports: person or team in the last place) · es pompi (babytalk: buttocks) · es poto (babytalk: buttocks) · fi kapyysi (nautical: small galley)