pigeon hole

Noun

pigeonhole (plural pigeonholes)

1. One of an array of open compartments for housing pigeons in a dovecote or pigeon loft.
   • Holonyms: pigeon loft, dovecote, columbary, columbarium
2. (archaic) A hole or opening in a door or wall for a pigeon to pass through.
   • 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...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)...
3. (broadly) One of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting or storing letters, papers, or other items.
   • 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; […]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]...

   Synonyms:

   cubbyhole

   1. (broadly) 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.
4. (broadly) A compartment or cubicle in a room or other place, especially one which is (excessively) small.
   • The general size of a store in Tangier is about that of an ordinary shower-bath in a civilized land. […] You can rent a whole block of these pigeon-holes for fifty dollars a month.1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VIII, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC, page 80
5. (broadly) A small opening for looking or passing things through.
   • However, as my friend came dodging towards my door, I saw him through the usual pigeon hole through which warders speak to their prisoners.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

See all 16 meanings of pigeonhole