pigeonholen.
/ˈpɪdʒ(ᵻ)nhəʊl/, U.S. /ˈpɪdʒənˌ(h)oʊl/ 1.
a. A small recess or compartment (usually one of a series) for a domestic pigeon to roost or nest in, usually constructed in the outer wall of a building or inside a dovecote or pigeon loft.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping birds > [noun] > keeping or breeding pigeons > pigeon-hole
culver-hole1565
pigeonhole1577
locker1600
locker holea1640
cove1725
columbarium1881
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iv. f. 171 To feede and fat them [sc. turtle doves] in little darke roomes like Pigion holes.
1622 Chiswick Church-wardens' Bks. in D. Lysons Environs of London (1795) II. 221 Paid for making a new payre of pigeing-holes, 0 2 6.
1662 J. A. Comenius Janua Linguarum Trilinguis xxxiv. 82 Poultrey, which are fed (kept) in pens (coops,) hen-roosts, pidgeon-holes (dove houses,) & from which feathers (down) are plucked.
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Locker, a Pigeon Hole.
1806 R. Polwhele Sir Allan iii, in Poems II. 51 I heard strange moans—Among the pigeon-holes! What piteous tones! 'Twas the same wood-dove..That hover'd at your grandsire's dying bed.
1988 Independent 10 Sept. 48/3 Ditcher's loft is a pigeon's dream of home.., with..warm polystyrene covers on the roosting bricks in the..pigeon-holes.
b. A hole in a wall or door for pigeons to pass through. Now rare.
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the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > opening which may be passed through > (of size) used by specific animal
mouseholec1475
cat-holea1625
pigeonhole1737
1737 tr. C. de Bruyn Trav. into Muscovy II. l. 3/2 Such small apertures for the admission of light, that one would rather take them for pigeon-holes than windows.
1855 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Mar. 315/2 A great yellow barn, with an arch..and a long row of pigeon-holes cut through the boards just beneath the eaves.
1878 T. Hardy Return of Native I. ii. ii. 247 The loft was lighted by a semicircular hole, through which the pigeons crept to their lodgings... ‘I wonder how your face looks now?’ she said, gazing abstractedly at the pigeon-hole, which admitted the sunlight so directly.
2001 Evening Herald (Plymouth) (Nexis) 4 Aug. 23 Two rows of pigeon-holes below the roofline of Fursdon Barn.
2. In plural. colloquial. A type of stocks in which a person's hands or feet were secured in holes; (also) the holes in which a prisoner's hands were secured during flogging. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > public or popular punishments > [noun] > punishing by pillory or stocks > pillory or stocks
stocksc1325
pilloryc1330
stocka1382
gofe1489
stretchneck1543
harmans1567
foot trap1585
pigeonholes1592
jougs1596
berlina1607
halsfang1607
gorget1635
cippusa1637
nutcrackers1648
catasta1664
wooden cravat1676
the wooden ruff1677
neck stock1681
wooden casement1685
timber-stairsc1750
Norway neckcloth1785
law-neck-cloth1789
stoop1795
timber1851–4
nerve1854
1592 R. Greene Disput. Conny-catcher sig. C4 You shall heare poore men with their handes in their Piggen hoales crye, Oh fie vpon whoores, when Fouler giues them the terrible lash.
1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iv. iv. 61 in Wks. II Downe with him, and carry him away, to the pigeon-holes.
1694 L. Echard tr. Plautus Rudens iii. xiv, in tr. Plautus Comedies 193 He'll be stock'd into the Pigeon Holes, where I'm afraid the poor Devil must make his Nest tonight.
1896 Classical Rev. 10 333/1 Supposing Plautus for the sake of the pun to have changed the normal form cŏlumbar (a kind of stocks, ‘pigeon hole’ stocks) to collumbar.
2003 Design Week (Nexis) 27 Mar. 10 Here we might use ‘pigeon-hole’... In the late 16th century it became a slang word, first for the stocks in which malefactors were fastened, then for the holes in which the hands of prisoners were held while being flogged.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > bagatelle and similar games > [noun]
troll-madam1572
nine holes1573
pigeonholes1608
small trunksc1610
hole1611
trucks1671
roly-poly1707
Mississippi1728
bumble-puppy1794
bubble the justice1801
bagatelle1819
cockamaroo1850
pigs in clover1889
pinball1911
pinball game1911
Skee-Ball1923
Corinthian bagatelle1933
pachinko1949
1608 Great Frost sig. D Then had they other games of nineholes and pigeonholes in great numbers.
a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder (1632) ii. i. 17 What ware deale you in? Cards, Dice, Bowls, or Pigeon-holes?
1709 Poor Robin sig. C4 This Fool haunting hath also great Influence on them, who frequent Lotteries, Cock-fighting, Nine-pins, Pigeon-holes, &c.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II Pigeon-holes, a game like our modern bagatelle, where there was a machine with arches for the balls to run through, resembling the cavities made for pigeons in a dove-house.
4.
a. A small hole for looking through, or through which something may pass or be passed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > communicating with outside or air > for escape or discharge of something
vent1570
venting-hole1601
pigeonhole1683
waste-hole1839
porthole1858
port1944
1683 W. Salmon Doron Medicum ii. xix. 569 A Chimney in form of a Cup-board..with two doors, the one at the bottom (with a Pidgeon hole in it) to open and make a Saw-Dust and Small-Coal-Dust fire.
1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey France & Spain II. 112 A Gentleman at Cambridge, who, having cut a large pigeon-hole under his closet door, on being asked the use of it, said, he had cut it for an old cat which had kittens, to go in and out.
1857 Spirit of Times 23 May 182/1 I sees a kinder pigeon-hole cut in the side of a house, and over the hole, in big writin', ‘Blind Tiger, ten cents a sight’.
1890 Cent. Dict. Pigeon-hole,..one of a series of holes in an arch of a furnace through which the gases of combustion pass... One of a series of holes in the block at the bottom of a keir through which its liquid contents can be discharged.
1920 Times 8 May 13/1 He went into the depôt..and, when the cashier's back was turned, put his hand through the pigeon-hole, and abstracted a bundle of Treasury notes.
1963 K. D. Kaunda Zambia shall be Free xv. 127 I saw him through the usual pigeon hole through which warders speak to their prisoners.
2003 Irish News 24 Oct. 18–9 Terrified, the teenager sneaked a peek through the pigeon holes at the top of the stairs which gave a birdseye view of the surrounding area.
b. Nautical. A hole in the structure of a ship through which rigging, oars, etc., may pass. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1727 Diss. Navigation Ancients in J. Arbuthnot Tables Anc. Coins, Weights, & Meas. 234 It is observable, that the Columbaria, Pigeon-holes, as they were called, thro' which the Oars passed, are not placed immediately over one another.
1841 W. Brady Kedge Anchor xcvi. 75 Bend a tripping line to the pigeon hole, leading from the bowsprit end.
1863 S. B. Luce Seamanship (ed. 2) x. 129 Secure the standing-parts of the tackle and girtlines to the pigeon-hole by means of a squilgee-toggle, over which the bights are laid.
1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 128/2 Pigeon holes, those in the drumhead of a capstan to receive the capstan bars. A hole in the top platform for the running rigging to pass through.
1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 159 Pigeon holes, cutaway parts in superstructures to lead rigging through.
5. Typography. An excessively wide space between two words. Now rare.
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society > communication > printing > printed matter > arrangement or appearance of printed matter > [noun] > space left intentionally > wide space between words
pigeonhole1683
thick space1683
justifier1755
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 215 These wide Whites are by Compositers (in way of Scandal) call'd Pidgeon-holes.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 123/2 Pidgeon Holes, when whites between words are as great [as], or greater then between line and line.
1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. 113 [Too] many Blanks of m-quadrats will be contemptuously called Pigeon-holes.
1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 590 s.v. Pigeon holes,..The only instances in which they are tolerated are when a page is small, and the type is large in proportion to it.
1876 Printers' Reg. 7 Aug. 28/1 Sometimes great ‘holes’, or ‘pigeon holes’ as they are called, are seen between the words of a newspaper paragraph, but how unsightly they are.
1904 T. L. de Vinne Mod. Methods Bk. Composition 89 Spacing too wide produces ‘pigeonholes’ between words.
1970 R. K. Kent Lang. Journalism 102 Pigeonhole, too wide a space between printed words: several of them falling nearly under each other in successive lines may cause a river.
6.
a. One of a series of open compartments in a desk, range of shelves, etc., used for storing or sorting mail, papers, goods, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > cupboard or cabinet > [noun] > compartment of cupboard
aumbry1527
pigeonhole1688
1688 J. Locke Let. 6 Feb. in J. Locke & E. Clarke Corr. (1927) 245 Another way may be with pigeon-holes as they call them: at these twenty-four holes, over the first paste an A, over the second a B, [etc.].
1762 T. Chippendale Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director (ed. 3) 10 The Inside is divided into Pigeon-Holes, with Labels of the Alphabet over them.
1796 E. Burke Let. to Noble Lord in Wks. (1815) VIII. 58 Abbé Sieyes has whole nests of pigeon-holes full of constitutions ready made, ticketed, sorted, and numbered.
1862 G. A. Sala Ship-chandler iii. 48 Pigeon-holes full of samples of sugar, of rice, tobacco, coffee, and the like.
1879 J. A. H. Murray Addr. Philol. Soc. 8 This has been fitted with blocks of pigeon-holes, 1029 in number, for the reception of the alphabetically arranged slips.
1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 14 Apr. 3/5 (advt.) Writing Desks. Just the thing for the home..large writing bed with enclosed pigeon holes for papers.
1965 C. Himes Cotton comes to Harlem vii. 48 A rack containing numerous pigeonholes where weapons were placed.
1972 C. Achebe Girls at War 99 ‘Can I see your pigeon-hole?’.. ‘That's the glove-box. Nothing there.’
2003 C. Mendelson Daughters of Jerusalem 148 Victor..is standing at the pigeonholes, going through his post.
b. figurative. A theoretical compartment or division; a fixed category or role into which a person, thing, idea, etc., is classified.
ΚΠ
1847 F. A. Kemble Rec. Later Life III. 305 People whose minds are parcelled out into distinct divisions—pigeon-holes, as it were.
1869 T. H. Huxley Let. 12 Apr. in L. Huxley Life & Lett. T. H. Huxley (1900) I. 301 I..put it into one of the pigeon holes of my brain.
1902 L. Stephen Stud. of Biographer III. iii. 90 He was incapable of arranging his thoughts in orderly symmetrical pigeon-holes.
1938 Times 7 Jan. 13/6 Nor, even if the organization were bigger, would it be easy to clap the staff into their pigeon-holes, when so many jobs call for the all-rounder.
1994 Daily Mail 29 Sept. 9/3 People identified me with a homely farmer's wife and I was never allowed to escape from that pigeonhole.
7. An excessively small room or lodging; a compartment, cubicle, or subdivision of a larger room or space.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > other types of dwelling > [noun] > very small dwelling
pigeonhole1703
homeleta1838
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room generally > [noun] > small room
parrockOE
cellc1300
cabin1362
parclosea1470
camerelle?c1475
crib1600
narrow cell1636
pigeonhole1703
closet1728
box1773
cuddy1793
cubby-hole1842
roomlet1855
cubby1868
cubby-house1880
cwtch1890
cellule1894
1703 T. Brown et al. Contin. Lett. from Dead to Living (new ed.) ii. 186 Some old Rogue who..hopes to make an Atonement by Starving perhaps Twenty Old Women in his little row of Charity, Pidgeon-holes Endow'd with Nine-pence per Week, and a Thimble full of Coals.
1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey France & Spain II. li. 151 All the rest of the apartments are pidgeon-holes, filled with fleas, bugs, and dirt.
1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes III. v. 143 There was..a single dormitory for four hundred men!.. Each pigeon-hole is six feet and a half long, by two feet in width.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad viii. 80 You can rent a whole block of these pigeon-holes for fifty dollars a month.
1957 Times 22 May 13/3 Cars would be parked in ‘pigeon-holes’ by mechanical elevators.
1991 J. Bow Jane's Journey (BNC) 56 ‘Let me show you my office’... They passed a line of doors to his particular pigeon-hole.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > auditorium > [noun] > seat or place > types of seat
pigeonhole1732
box seat1779
stall1828
orchestra seat1843
orchestra stall1849
fauteuil1859
sofa stall1862
stall seat1920
house seat1927
riser1945
1732 H. Fielding Covent-Garden Trag. i. i. 2 The Play is done: For from the Pigeon-hole I heard them hiss the Curtain as it fell.
1747 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 22/1 An upper gallery, or pigeon hole, or upper seat ticket for the play, to have one three-penny stamp.
1828 Lights & Shades Eng. Life I. 254 On his benefit-night Brandon may be seen in one of the pigeon-holes, counting the house.
1846 E. Fitzgerald Let. 8 Mar. (1980) I. 526 I have been to see some of the old Comedies with great pleasure; and last night I sat in a pigeon-hole..and ‘revolved many memories’.
1857 Times 17 Apr. 8/4 We should have mentioned the abolition of those pigeon holes (pleasantly denominated boxes) on a level with the gallery.
Compounds
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > bed > types of bed > [noun] > other types of bed
childbed1568
plank bed1584
table bed1633
earth-bed1637
pigeon-hole bed1685
box-bed1693
barbecue1697
plaid bedc1710
bed of state1713
pallet1839
high post1842
rocker1854
wire bed1882
lit bateau1895
string cot1895
sleigh bed1902
orthopaedic bed1943
high-low bed1956
futon1959
bateau lit1983
1685 J. Locke Jrnl. 28 Aug. in P. King Life of Locke (1829) 167 I saw a boor's house a mile or more from Amsterdam... There were three pigeon-hole beds, after the Dutch fashion.
pigeon-hole wall n. rare a wall with small apertures.
ΚΠ
1874 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 403 When the fire-place is separated from the ore compartment by pigeon-hole walls.
1902 Science 1 Aug. 168/2 The pigeon-hole walls of the chamber and air shaft are supported on short brick columns, so that there is an air space between the walls and the concrete floor.
pigeonhole window n. a small or recessed window resembling a pigeonhole; (also) a window with a small aperture through which transactions can take place.
ΚΠ
1800 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 130/2 A kind of hutch or cabbin gallery has been stuck out with pidgeon-hole windows.
1861 Southern Lit. Messenger Dec. 440/2 Each station has its pigeon-hole window, over which is placed the name, fare, and time of starting.
2000 Armenian Reporter (Nexis) 4 Mar. 16 George..was able to climb to a high pigeonhole window, enter the house, and reclaim his mother's purse and some gold and silverware.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pigeonholev.
/ˈpɪdʒ(ᵻ)nhəʊl/, U.S. /ˈpɪdʒənˌ(h)oʊl/ 1.
a. transitive. To deposit in a pigeonhole (pigeonhole n. 6a); to sort by using pigeonholes. More generally: to put away in the proper place for later reference.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > delay or postponement > delay [verb (transitive)] > for later treatment or consideration
reservec1384
to put in suspense1421
resplait1447
to put in resplait1452
to leave over?c1475
sleep1519
refer1559
suspend1581
seposit1657
pigeonhole1840
shelve1847
table1849
pend1953
1840 C. Campbell in T. Bland Bland Papers I. p. v The lady..reached down a bundle of letters..from the interstices of the eaves of the porch, where they were nicely pigeon-holed.
1872 H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. (ed. 2) II. vii. xviii. 485 Duly arranged and, as it were, pigeon-holed for future use.
1933 G. Ewart in New Verse Dec. 13 The ‘Times’ Third Leaders are decoded, pigeon-holed for future use.
1989 J. Casey Spartina (1990) 51 Dick put his harpoon by the pulpit, pigeon-holed his charts and notes in the wheelhouse.
b. transitive. figurative. To put aside or shelve (a matter) for future consideration.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > be careless or heedless of [verb (transitive)] > neglect > thrust aside into position of neglect
to set (also thrust, or send) to the wall1583
shelve1847
pigeonhole1855
1855 Knickerbocker 46 95 The bill of the gentlemanly proprietor..was deliberately met by a bill for ‘damages to cow-catcher’, and pigeon-holed.
1889 T. E. Pemberton Mem. E. A. Sothern 69 Robertson's original adaptation..was, for a period of eight years, ‘pigeon-holed’.
1940 P. G. Wodehouse Eggs, Beans & Crumpets 154 Putting the prophet Hosea to one side for the moment and temporarily pigeon-holing the children of Adullam.
1976 Milton Keynes Express 16 July 2/5 One plan that seems to have been pigeon-holed for the time being is the idea of finding another site for the College of Further Education.
2002 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 25 Mar. a8 Reports this general tend to get pigeonholed in some file rather than acted upon.
c. transitive. figurative. To assign to a particular category or class, esp. in an excessively rigid or presumptive manner; to label or categorize mentally.
ΚΠ
1864 Continental Monthly Apr. 424/2 Regarding the new light as scientific rather than religious, I long since pigeon-holed it among my sciences.
1889 Athenæum 16 Mar. 338/1 [Bacon admonishes] against..wilful rejection of facts that we are unable to pigeon-hole.
1927 Amer. Mercury May 10/1 He may be able to measure and pigeon hole his students in the approved pedagogic fashion according to morals and music sight reading.
1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 59 Keep your labels for people who need them; I cannot be pigeonholed neatly.
1994 Artnews Feb. 115/1 A tendency to pigeonhole him [sc. Man Ray] as a photographer and neglect his work in sculpture and painting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > types of burial or entombment > bury in specific manner [verb (transitive)] > bury in specific place
pantheonize1801
pigeonhole1858
trench1870
1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 3 Mar. in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) ii. 120 Decently pigeon-holed in a Roman tomb.
3. transitive. To furnish with or create pigeonholes; to divide into pigeonholes; (figurative) to divide or organize according to a rigid system of classification.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > enclosing or enclosure > enclose [verb (transitive)] > furnish with or divide into chambers
pigeonhole1879
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > divide [verb (transitive)] > into sections or compartments
space1557
comparta1785
section1819
sectionize1828
partition1849
sectionalize1854
to pound off1873
pigeonhole1879
compartment1930
compartmentalize1945
cellularize1948
1879 J. A. H. Murray in N.E.D. (1903) (at cited word) I had proposed to pigeon-hole the walls of the drawing-room for the reception of the dictionary material.
1883 J. Payn Thicker than Water xiii A huge sandbank..pigeonholed by sand-martins.
1940 W. H. Auden Another Time 69 Do all clerks for instance Pigeon-hole creation?
1995 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 19 July You can pigeon-hole Australian television into about five categories.
Derivatives
ˈpigeonholer n. a person who classifies people or things, esp. in a rigid or dogmatic manner.
ΚΠ
1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 754 That terrible pigeonholer of freight schedules at Washington.
1952 E. Wagenknecht Cavalcade of Amer. Novel ii. 24 The pigeon-holers always have great difficulty, for example, in deciding whether he was a realist or a romancer.
1997 N.Y. Mag. 14 July 74/2 Pigeonholers like to treat potters as potters, sculptors as sculptors, and painters as painters.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1577v.1840- image enhancement
- image field
- image formation
- image iconoscope
- image intensifier
- image man
- image merchant
- image mug
- image orthicon
- image pattern
- image processing
- image processor
- image sensor
- image server
- image stabilizer
- image toy
- image tube
- image type
- image war
- image work
- image world
- image worship
- image-bearer
- image-bearing
- image-breaker