Definition

Noun

  1. The head for petty officers, on the beakhead of a ship.
  2. A compartment amidships for petty officers and apprentices.

Origin

(first definition) 16th century. (second definition) 19th century.

Comments

These were found on passenger ships and East Indiamen in the 18th and 19th centuries. Despite their name, they were a square cabin, or set of cabins, on the afterpart of the quarterdeck, with the poop deck forming the roof.

They were called round because you could walk around them. They correspond to the coach on a warship. Some merchant ships had round houses on the upper deck abaft the mainmast when used for accommodations. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, round houses in the British Royal Navy were lavatories for sailors confined to sickbay.

This is probably a term that’s no longer used or likely one of non-American origin, since I’ve never heard of a petty officer’s quarters or the head referred to as the round house.

References

Kemp, P. (1994). The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. Oxford University Press.

King, D., Hattendorf, J.B, & Estes, J.W. (1997). A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O’Brian’s Seafaring Tales (2nd Ed.). Owl Books.

Rogers, J.G. (1985). Origins of Sea Terms. Mystic Seaport.