walk-ins

Noun

walk-in (plural walk-ins)

1. A relatively small room (such as a closet or pantry) or refrigerator or freezer that is spacious enough to walk into.
2. A relatively larger room or (especially) an apartment that is entered directly, not via an intervening passage or lobby.
   • a walk-in bathroom, a walk-in apartment, lived in a walk-in on Lime Street
3. A facility or an event that principally handles customers who do not have an appointment.
   • Most teen clinics are walk-ins.
4. A facility accessed on foot rather than by car, usually contrasted to drive-in.
   • This consideration applies to the location of all types of petroleum-solvent cleaning plants, whether operated as delivery plants, drive-ins, walk-ins, or wholesale establishments.1925, Domestic Commerce Series, page 32
5. A customer, job applicant or similar who visits a restaurant, medical facility, car dealership, etc. without a reservation, appointment, or referral.
   • An astute manager will have a table or two set aside for important regular customers or demanding walk-ins.1996, Kazuo Nishiyama, Welcoming the Japanese visitor: insights, tips, tactics, page 85
6. A defector (or similar) who walks into an embassy (etc) unannounced.
   • Still, a rapidly formed working group of Mossad wise men debated the risk in dealing with a walk-in, a volunteer who shows up bearing gifts.2007 April 10, “[//www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/opinion/13blum.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Who Killed Ashraf Marwan?]”, in The New York Times, retrieved 18 Sep 2015

See all 14 meanings of walk-in