Skip to main content
top drawer

top drawer

15 6.8
Very high quality or the upper drawer in a piece of furniture
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : cajón superior
  • Open the top drawer of the bureau, Thomas.
  • top drawer of a dresser
  • top drawer of a desk
  • top drawer of a bureau

Like out of all of the stuff that I have, I have a couple of them shoved in my top drawer.

Autoplay Next

Examples

Synonyms

top
vstop drawer
1.0

Located at the highest position

is about highest quality or status and also a furniture compartment
top shelf
vstop drawer
23 4.4

The highest shelf in a storage space or a thing of the highest quality

is used for high status and also for the uppermost compartment in furniture
top of the line
vstop drawer
6 3.9

A product that is the best and most expensive in a range

is broader meaning general highest quality or furniture compartment rather than just costly products

Antonyms

13 2.8

Something that is not good or well made

How Good

top drawer
  • UK
15 6.8
excellent
1.0
good
1.0
average
1.0
poor
838 1.0

Surface Forms

top drawer singular
top drawers plural

Morphology

top + drawer

The literal combination 'top' (uppermost/best) + 'drawer' (furniture compartment) yields a clear image of the uppermost compartment and thus can hint at high rank or status. However, the evaluative idiomatic sense 'of the highest quality' is a metaphorical extension rather than a direct compositional meaning, so the specific judgement of quality is not fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Top drawer may come from old furniture, where people kept their best things in the top drawer. Because the upper drawer held the finest items, top drawer came to mean 'of the highest quality or status'.