hutch

Definition

A box, chest, crate, case or cabinet.

Etymology

From Middle English hucche (“storage chest”), variation of whucce, from Old English hwiċe, hwiċċe (“box, chest”). Spelling influenced by Old French huche (“chest”), from Medieval Latin hūtica, from a different Germanic root, from Frankish *hutta, from Proto-Germanic *hudjō, *hudjǭ (“box, hut, hutch”). Akin to Old English hȳdan (“to conceal; hide”). More at hide, hut. (cricket pavilion or dressing room): An extension of the rabbit metaphor.

Example Sentences

• "“No place for rabbits now, but I could easy build a few hutches and you could feed alfalfa to the rabbits.”"
• "To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county cubbyholes: the tax assessor,... the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that smelled[…]"
• "In 1880, Punch commented that the London & South Western Railway directors must have been keen rabbit fanciers, "for the number of hutches scattered over their 'system' is enormous". Yet, "these hutches are not for rabbits, but for humans, and they are technically known as 'Country Stations'"."