English

Literal pigeonholes

A desk featuring pigeonholes

A pigeon-hole messagebox at Stanford University.

Alternative forms

• pigeon-hole
• pigeon hole

Noun

pigeonhole ‎(plural pigeonholes)

1. A nook in a desk for holding papers.
2. One of an array of compartments for sorting post, messages etc. at an office, or college (for example).

   Fred was disappointed at the lack of post in his pigeonhole.

3. A hole, or roosting place for pigeons.
4. Ancient Roman system of storage, used in libraries for keeping scrolls

Translations

Verb

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

1. To categorize; especially to limit or be limited to a particular category, role, etc.

   Fred was tired of being pigeonholed as a computer geek.

   • 1902, Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows

     He prided himself on his largeness when he granted that there were three kinds of women... Not that he pigeon-holed Frona according to his inherited definitions.

2. To put aside, to not act on (proposals, suggestions, advice).
   • 1910, Angus Hamilton, Herbert Henry Austin, Masatake Terauchi, Korea: Its History, Its People, and Its Commerce, page 294

     These laws were not carried into effect: they were pigeon-holed.

   • 1917, The Crisis, November 1917 issue, The Looking Glass: Election laws in Southern California, page 29

     [...] vociferously declared that they had the evidence. But no one prosecutes. No one swears out a warrant. The evidence is pigeonholed.

   • 2008, Edward Sidlow, Beth Henschen, America at Odds, page 251

     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.

Synonyms

• (not act on): shelve, table

Translations

Related terms

• pigeonhole principle
• pigeonholeable
• pigeonholer

See also

• cubbyhole