Quonset

See also: quonset

English

Alternative forms

• quonset

Etymology

Named after Quonset Point, the place they were manufactured; the placename derives from an Algonquian language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɒnsɪt/

Noun

Quonset (plural Quonsets)

1. (US, also attributive) A prefabricated building having a roof of corrugated iron and semicircular cross section.

   Synonym: Quonset hut

   • 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 59:

     They gave her a round white visitor's badge at one of the gates, and she parked in an enormous lot next to a quonset building painted pink and about a hundred yards long.

   • 1979, Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff:

     Besides the wind, sand, tumbleweed, and Joshua trees, there was nothing at Muroc except for two quonset-style hangars, side by side, a couple of gasoline pumps, a single concrete runway, a few tarpaper shacks, and some tents.

See also

• Nissen hut (UK)