English

Adjective

cupboardy ‎(comparative more cupboardy, superlative most cupboardy)

1. (rare) Cupboardlike: for example small, fusty or poorly lit.
   • 1877, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, In Great Waters, and Other Tales, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 1402191197, [p. 231],

     Caroline and Amelia were rather short in their tempers that night at hair-brushing time, and Lucy was glad to have her funny little cupboardy room all to herself.

   • 1886, A. D. T. (Adeline Dutton Train) Whitney, Bonnyborough, Houghton, Mifflin, [p. 129],

     I detest a room that is for nothing but eating; and one that is only for leather and paper and printer's ink gets cupboardy and musty in a hardly less undesirable way."

   • 1889, J. E. (Jane Ellen) Panton, Bypaths and Cross-roads, Ward and Downey, [p. 265],

     Ah ! we may smile as we walk behind our hostess as she discourses eagerly over her pickles and preserves, and we scent the queer lavender "cupboardy" smell that hangs about the upstairs rooms, each bed appropriately attired in a ghost-like dust-sheet.

   • 1907, William John Thomas, Doran (John), Henry Frederick Turle, Joseph Knight, Vernon Horace Rendall, Florence Hayllar, Notes and Queries, G. Bell, etc [p. 287],

     (editors note after a letter by Thomas Ratcliffe re cubbardy) "Cupboardy" is recorded in the 'NED' as a nonce-word, with a quotation from Miss Braddon.

   • 1969, David Wright, Deafness: A personal Account, Faber & Faber, read in Jill Jepson, No Walls of Stone: An Anthology of Literature by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Writers, Gallaudet University Press (2002) ISBN 156368019X, [p. 156],

     I was ushered along a dark cupboardy passage that led to the dining-room.

2. (archaic) Associated with cupboard love.
   • 1880, Cecilia Findlay, Cross purposes, Marcus Ward & Co, [p. 32]

     Down, Jack, you cupboardy dog!" The rough terrier thus unceremoniously addressed had been making a tour of inspection round Else ever since her arrival; but a sudden impression that there was such a thing as bread and butter to be had overmastered curiosity, and turning away...he sat up on end and wagged his paws just in front of his mistress.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989