pigeonhole
1
7.0
- noun
- /ˈpɪdʒənˌhoʊl/
:
casillero
- The messy collection of papers was organized into several pigeonholes for easier access.
Examples
-
He began a systematic search and finally found what he was looking for in a bank of pigeonholes that held office stationery.
Fiction book (1994) -
All his mail was sorted in pigeonholes, and he appeared to be dozing.
Fiction book (2001) -
You keep these notes in a pigeonhole back there somewhere, do you?
-
The next day, I found in my pigeonhole a note of thanks from the chaplain.
Academic text (1999) -
The decision to make an alphabetical rearrangement of the Fellows' pigeonholes in the post room was one such occurrence.
Academic text (1999) -
The desk, an enormous oak rolltop with at least forty stuffed-to-bursting pigeonholes, seemed like pie by comparison.
Fiction book (1992) -
I am slipping into another time, another place, seeing the elegantly arched pigeonholes of our grandmother's walnut secretary.
Fiction book (1996) -
He crossed quickly to the Reverend's old rolltop desk and pulled a rubber-banded bundle of yellowed newspaper clippings from one of the pigeonholes.
Fiction book (1992) -
She placed the important documents in a pigeonhole labeled 'Finance' at her desk.
-
At the office, each employee had a designated pigeonhole for their incoming mail.
Synonyms
150
3.3
A small separate space inside a bigger thing where you keep things
11
3.0
A small locked box in a public place for keeping personal things
5
5.3
A small enclosed space used for storing things, doing small tasks, or as a quiet nook
A numbered box at a post office that people rent to receive mail
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Pigeonhole comes from the little 'holes' in old pigeon houses where birds nested, and people later copied those small boxes in desks to sort letters and papers. That's why a pigeonhole is a small compartment for storing or sorting papers.