Dugout \Dug"out`\, n.

1. A canoe or boat dug out from a large log. [U.S.]

A man stepped from his slender dugout. -- G. W. Cable.

2. A place dug out.

3. A house made partly in a hillside or slighter elevation. [Western U.S.]

--Bartlett.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)