medicine chest
- noun
- /ˈmɛdɪsɪn tʃɛst/
- UK
- And there is something unexpectedly comforting about the reflection given back by an ordinary medicine chest.
- open the medicine chest
- medicine chest mirror
- wooden medicine chest
So there's all sorts of little eccentricities that you can find in a medicine chest.
- So there's all sorts of little eccentricities that you can find in a medicine chest.
Examples
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In her bathroom, he silently opened the medicine chest and found what he was looking for.
Fiction book (1994) -
Jesse replaced the pills in the medicine chest and padded back across the hall.
Fiction book (1994) -
- Go get something to put on it, in the medicine chest.
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But we need the medicine chest.
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I'll get the medicine chest.
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The medicine chest was in the wagon the whole time.
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Now give me my scissors from the medicine chest.
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I think there's some in the medicine chest.
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Ruth replaced the cap on the aspirin bottle and put it into the medicine chest.
Fiction book (2002) -
In her bathroom, he silently opened the medicine chest and found what he was looking for.
Synonyms
A small cabinet in a bathroom that holds medicines and first-aid items
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small cabinet for storing medicines' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'medicine' (drugs/preparations) with 'chest' (a box or cabinet). This noun–noun compounding follows a straightforward compositional pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase medicine chest combines medicine and chest, creating a clear picture of a small box or cabinet where you keep bottles and creams. That's why it means 'a small cabinet used for storing medicines and toiletries'.