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pigeonhole

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: pigeon-hole and pigeon hole

English

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WOTD – 5 January 2025

Etymology

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Pigeonholes (sense 1) in a dovecote.
An 18th-century Thomas Chippendale escritoire (type of writing desk) with pigeonholes (top; sense 3.1).
A pigeon-hole messagebox (sense 3.1.1) at Stanford University in Stanford, California, United States.
Visitors to the Sunderland Museum in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in England, United Kingdom, in 1913 trying out the pigeonhole (sense 3.4), a form of stocks.

The noun is derived from pigeon +‎ hole.[1] The verb is derived from the noun.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pigeonhole (plural pigeonholes)

  2. One of an array of open compartments for housing pigeons in a dovecote or pigeon loft.
  3. (archaic) A hole or opening in a door or wall for a pigeon to pass through.
    • 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, “The People at Blooms-End Make Ready”, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, book II (The Arrival), pages 246–248:
      The loft was lighted by a semicircular hole, though which the pigeons crept to their lodgings in the same high quarters of the premises; […] 'Dear Clym, I wonder how your face looks now?' she said, gazing abstractedly at the pigeon-hole, which admitted the sunlight so directly upon her brown hair and transparent tissues that it almost seemed to shine through her.
  4. (by extension)
    2. One of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting and/or storing letters, papers, or other items.
      Synonym: cubbyhole
      • 1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], London: […] J. Owen, […], and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 63:
        Abbé [Emmanuel Joseph] Sieyès has vvhole neſts of pigeon-holes full of conſtitutions ready made, ticketed, ſorted, and numbered; ſuited to every ſeaſon and every fancy; […]
      • 1862, George Augustus Sala, “The Ship-chandler. A Story of a Seaport One Hundred Years Ago. Chapter III. Evil upon Evil.”, in The Ship Chandler and Other Tales, London: Ward and Lock, […], →OCLC, page 48:
        Blank ink and red ink, pounce, wafers, wax, pens, seals, imbibing-paper, rulers, files, were all there; pegs for hats, shelves and hooks, pigeon-holes full of samples of sugar, of rice, tobacco, coffee, and the like: all the dull paraphernalia of a trader's elaboratory.
      • 1879, J[ames] A[ugustus] H[enry] Murray, Address to the Philological Society, page 8; quoted in “Pigeon-hole, sb.”, in James A[ugustus] H[enry] Murray [et al.], editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes VII (O–P), London: Clarendon Press, 1884–1928, →OCLC, page 846, column 3:
        This has been fitted with blocks of pigeon-holes, 1029 in number, for the reception of the alphabetically arranged slips.
      2. One of an array of open compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.
        Fred was disappointed to find his pigeonhole empty except for bills and a flyer offering 20% off on manicures.
        • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 39:
          [H]e walked across Hawthorn Tree Court on his way to the porter's lodge. […] At the lodge he cleared his pigeon-hole.
    3. A compartment or cubicle in a room or other place, especially one which is (excessively) small.
    4. A small opening for looking or passing things through.
      • 1962, Kenneth D[avid] Kaunda, “Prison”, in Zambia shall be Free: An Autobiography (African Writers Series; 4), London; Melbourne, Vic.: Heinemann Educational Books, →OCLC, page 127:
        However, as my friend came dodging towards my door, I saw him through the usual pigeon hole through which warders speak to their prisoners.
      1. (nautical, archaic) An opening in a ship for passing equipment such as an oar or rigging through.
    6. (historical, chiefly in the plural, also attributive) A form of stocks with openings for restraining a person's hands or feet; also, one of the openings in the device.
    7. (obsolete, theater) A seat in the top row of the gallery of a theatre.
      • 1732 June 12 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [Henry Fielding], The Covent-Garden Tragedy. […], London: […] J[ohn] Watts, and sold by J. Roberts […], published 5 July 1732, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:
        The Play is done: For from the Pigeon-hole / I heard them hiſs the Curtain as it fell.
  5. (figurative)
    2. A notional category or class into which someone or something is placed.
      Synonym: box
    3. (typography, archaic) A space between two words that is too wide.
      • 1683, Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] XIV. Applied to the Compositers Trade.”, in Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the Art of Printing. […], volume II, London: […] Joseph Moxon […], →OCLC, § 4 (Of Composing), page 215:
        Theſe vvide VVhites are by Compoſiters (in vvay of Scandal) call'd Pidgeon-holes, and are by none accounted good VVorkmanſhip, unleſs in ſuch caſes of neceſſity, as aforeſaid. […] And if he [a compositor] Sets too VVide, and he chance to Set a VVord to tvvo tvvice over, he may be forc'd to make Pidgeon-holes e're he come to a Break, […]

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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pigeonhole (third-person singular simple present pigeonholes, present participle pigeonholing, simple past and past participle pigeonholed) (transitive)

  1. To construct pigeonholes (noun sense 1 or sense 3.1) in (a place); also, to subdivide (a place) into pigeonholes.
  2. To put (letters, papers, or other items) into pigeonholes or small compartments; also, to arrange or sort (items) by putting into pigeonholes.
    • 1858 March 3 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “March 3rd, [1858]”, in Passages from the French and Italian Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, London: Strahan & Co., […], published 1871, →OCLC, page 143:
      I would rather have my ashes scattered over the soil, to help the growth of the grass and daisies; but still I should not murmur much at having them decently pigeon-holed in a Roman tomb.
  3. (figurative)
    1. To arrange (items) for future reference or use.
    2. To put aside (advice, a proposal, or other matter) for future consideration instead of acting on it immediately; to shelve.
      Synonyms: mothball, table
      • 1910, Angus Hamilton, Herbert H[enry] Austin, Masatake Terauchi, “Sanitation and Water Works”, in Korea: Its History, Its People, and Its Commerce (Oriental Series; XIII), Boston, Mass.; Tokyo: J. B. Millet Company, →OCLC, page 294:
        [S]everal laws and regulations were enacted for the prevention of cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, and diphtheria. These laws were not carried into effect: they were pigeon-holed.
      • 1917 November, “The Looking Glass: Election Laws in Southern California”, in W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, editor, The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, volume 15, number 1 (number 85 overall), New York, N.Y.: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 2:
        This year, and in former years, politicians have set up that they were cheated, and have vociferously declared that they had the evidence. But no one prosecutes. No one swears out a warrant. The evidence is pigeonholed.
      • 1937 July, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Anslem Gets His Chance”, in Eggs, Beans and Crumpets, London: Herbert Jenkins […], published 26 April 1940, →OCLC, page 154:
        "Putting the prophet Hosea to one side for the moment and temporarily pigeon-holing the children of Adullam," interrupted Myrtle, "what are we going to do about this?"
      • 1961 February, “Talking of Trains: The White Paper”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 65:
        The Select Committee's recommendation that those which the railways are required to provide on grounds of national interest or social needs should be subsidised by the state has obviously been pigeon-holed.
      • 2004, Edward Sidlow, Beth Henschen, America at Odds, 4th edition, Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, →ISBN, page 260:
        A committee chairperson will typically send the bill on to a subcommittee. […] Alternatively, the chairperson may decide to put the bill aside and ignore it. Most bills that are pigeonholed in this manner receive no further action.
    3. To place (someone or something) into a notional category or class, especially in a way which makes unjustified assumptions or which is restrictive; to categorize, to classify, to label.
      Synonyms: cubbyhole, put someone in a box
      Fred was tired of being pigeonholed as a computer geek.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “pigeonhole, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024; “pigeonhole, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “pigeonhole, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “pigeonhole, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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