a car on a freight train for use of the train crew; usually the last car on the train
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Caboose \Ca*boose"\ (k[.a]*b[=oo]s"), n. [Cf. D. kabuis, kombuis, Dan. kabys, Sw. kabysa, G. kabuse a little room or hut. The First part of the word seems to be allied to W. cab cabin, booth. Cf. {Cabin}.] [Written also {camboose}.] 1. (Naut.) A house on deck, where the cooking is done; -- commonly called the {galley}.
2. (Railroad) A car used on freight or construction trains as travelling quarters for brakemen, workmen, etc.; a tool car. It usually is the last car of the train. [U. S.] [1913 Webster +PJC]
Galley \Gal"ley\, n.; pl. {Galleys}. [OE. gale, galeie (cf. OF. galie, gal['e]e, LL. galea, LGr. ?; of unknown origin.] 1. (Naut.) A vessel propelled by oars, whether having masts and sails or not; as: (a) A large vessel for war and national purposes; -- common in the Middle Ages, and down to the 17th century. (b) A name given by analogy to the Greek, Roman, and other ancient vessels propelled by oars. (c) A light, open boat used on the Thames by customhouse officers, press gangs, and also for pleasure. (d) One of the small boats carried by a man-of-war.
Note: The typical galley of the Mediterranean was from one hundred to two hundred feet long, often having twenty oars on each side. It had two or three masts rigged with lateen sails, carried guns at prow and stern, and a complement of one thousand to twelve hundred men, and was very efficient in mediaeval warfare. Galleons, galliots, galleasses, half galleys, and quarter galleys were all modifications of this type.
2. The cookroom or kitchen and cooking apparatus of a vessel; -- sometimes on merchant vessels called the {caboose}.
3. (Chem.) An oblong oven or muffle with a battery of retorts; a gallery furnace.
4. [F. gal['e]e; the same word as E. galley a vessel.] (Print.) (a) An oblong tray of wood or brass, with upright sides, for holding type which has been set, or is to be made up, etc. (b) A proof sheet taken from type while on a galley; a galley proof.
{Galley slave}, a person condemned, often as a punishment for crime, to work at the oar on board a galley. ``To toil like a galley slave.'' --Macaulay.
{Galley slice} (Print.), a sliding false bottom to a large galley. --Knight.
Paying some trainmen an extra day's wages if they start a run on a train pulling a caboose with a burned-out light bulb.
The caboose and a few cars are still usable, but the track and track bed need replacing and the locomotive must be rebuilt, with parts impossible to find, said Kintzele.
The railroads also say federal law governing the efficient interstate transportation of hazardous materials pre-empts the caboose law.
The engine, 19 cars and a caboose fell 30 feet from a railroad bridge in 1878, when a flood struck the area 30 miles east of Denver.