meat safe
- noun
- Archaic
:
cajón de carne
- The chef stored the leftover ribs in the meat safe to keep them fresh and free from insects.
Examples
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In the old kitchen, the meat safe was a vital piece of furniture, ensuring the meat stayed cool.
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Then he'll take you away to his meat safe somewhere.
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During the summer, we often used the meat safe to prevent flies from getting to the fresh cuts of meat.
Synonyms
1
7.2
A cupboard that keeps food away from insects and mice
How Protective
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun simply combines 'meat' (animal flesh for food) with 'safe' understood here as a ventilated/refrigerated cupboard, so the meaning 'a cupboard for storing meat' is directly derivable from the parts. This descriptive, compositional structure is common cross-linguistically and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituent senses.
Etymology
Meat safe comes from a simple, literal idea: a cupboard with wire sides where meat was kept safe from flies while staying cool. That's why it means 'a cupboard or container used to keep meat cool and protect it from insects'.