cubbyhole
noun

- a very small room or space for storing things

(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press 2009)

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WORD ORIGIN

Cubbyhole is a compound noun comprised of cubby (possibly from cub, a 16th century word for a pen or hutch) and hole. The origin is unknown.

Cubbyholes are meant for storing or hiding things and can range in size from very small to large enough for a person to hide as a Japanese man once found out:

The 57-year-old man who lived alone — or so he thought — could not understand why food was vanishing from his refrigerator. For no apparent reason, his sushi was disappearing into thin air. He installed a security camera in his home in the western city of Fukuoka and called the police when he saw images of someone walking around while he was gone.

"We searched the house in the man's presence. We found a woman in the closet," said a local police spokesman. The 58-year-old woman was found in a flat storage space only just big enough for a person to squeeze into lying down. She had sneaked a mattress and several plastic bottles into the cubbyhole, police said.

After she was arrested, she told the police that she had nowhere to live and had been in the man's house for about a year without him ever finding out. Exactly how she managed to go undetected is unclear, but the police suspect she may have been "closet-hopping," moving from house to house.

(sources: Sky News)

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SYNONYMS

pigeonhole, compartment, cubby, room, space


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PRACTICE OWAD TODAY
Say something like:

"When you leave the office put any messages for me in my CUBBYHOLE."