buck hoist

noun

An external elevator, especially a temporary one up the side of a building that is under construction or repair.

Meanings

nounbuck hoist (plural buck hoists)

plural buck hoists · alternative buckhoist · alternative buck-hoist

  1. An external elevator, especially a temporary one up the side of a building that is under construction or repair.

Origin

From Buck, the surname of American inventor Steward T. Buck, president of Buck Equipment Corp. Buck filed a patent for a "portable hoisting tower" in 1950 (approved in 1953), and the device was produced under the trademark "Buck hoist tower" or "HoisTower" from at least 1952 to 1975, when the company was acquired by Bil-Jax.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

buck hoist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buck%20hoist

MLA

“buck hoist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buck%20hoist. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “buck hoist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buck%20hoist.

Source: buck hoist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.