headhouse

See also: head house

English

Etymology

head +‎ house

Noun

headhouse (plural headhouses)

1. The portion of a passenger railway terminal not housing the tracks and platforms, comprising ticket counters, baggage facilities, etc.
   • 2007 January 8, William Neuman, “Planners Clash Over Transit Hub, and Riders Win”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Several members cast it as an either-or issue, pitting the form of the headhouse against the function of the passageway.

2. The overground portion of a subway station.
3. A structure built at the top of a ventilation shaft or mineshaft.
   • 2020 December 2, “Network News: Vent shaft design revealed”, in Rail, page 19:

     HS2 Ltd has unveiled the final design for the Little Missenden ventilation shaft headhouse on the ten-mile-long Chilterns Tunnel. Its single-storey design is said to have been inspired by barns and historic agricultural buildings in the area. [...] The headhouse will sit above a ventilation shaft 17.4 metres in diameter and 30 metres deep.

Alternative forms

• head house

Translations

portion of a passenger railway terminal not housing the tracks and platforms, comprising ticket counters, baggage facilities, etc.

• Esperanto: stacidomo
• French: bâtiment des voyageurs m
• German: Empfangsgebäude n, Empfangshalle (de) f, Zugangsgebäude n, Stationsgebäude n, Aufnahmegebäude n
• Kashubian: banowiszcze n
• Polish: dworzec kolejowy (pl) m
• Spanish: zaguán (es) m, mezanine m

Anagrams

• househead