blockhouse
[′bläk‚hau̇s] (engineering)
A reinforced concrete structure, often built underground or half-underground, and sometimes dome-shaped, to provide protection against blast, heat, or explosion during rocket launchings or related activities, and usually housing electronic equipment used in launching the rocket.
The activity that goes on in such a structure.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
blockhouse
blockhouse
1. A fortified structure used to furnish protection against enemy attack in frontier areas, usually at a location of strategic importance; often square or polygonal in plan; typically constructed of hewn timbers having dovetailed notches at the corners to provide strong rigid joints; commonly, an overhanging upper story; often masonry walls on the ground story with log construction above, or entirely of log construction; frequently, a pyramidal roof; usually a few small windows with heavy shutters; loophole openings through the walls permit the firing of guns over a wide range of angles.
2. A reinforced concrete structure that provides shelter against the hazards of heat, blast, or nuclear radiation.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Blockhouse
a defensive structure adapted for all-around machine gun, and sometimes artillery, fire. A blockhouse may be made of wood, stone, concrete, or steel, sometimes with armor, and has living quarters for a garrison. Blockhouses were widely used in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902 and in World Wars I and II, especially to cover railroad bridges, for defense of cities, in forested swamp areas, on mountain passes, and in systems of permanent fortification.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.