Wort des Tages
13 July 2026
cupola
a small viewing window in the top of the caboose for looking over the train, or the part of the caboose where one looks through this window.
Warum dieses Wort
The word is architectural, a raised dome or lantern on a roof, borrowed for the raised box that let a crew see the length of their own train. Rear end devices and radio did the same job with no seat at all, and the cupola went with the caboose.
In use
Grandad rode the cupola on that line for twenty years, watching for hot boxes and smoke down the consist.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.