hutch en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /hʌt͡ʃ/
- (Received-Pronunciation) audio
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.
Meanings
- A box, chest, crate, case or cabinet.
-
A coop or cage for keeping small animals (rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, etc).
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'".
2023 September 6, David Turner, “Best-kept stations: roots in railway's past”, in RAIL, number 991, page 54: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[…]
1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 16, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:“No place for rabbits now, but I could easy build a few hutches and you could feed alfalfa to the rabbits.”
1937, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, New York: Covici Friede, page 100:
- A piece of furniture in which items may be displayed.
- A cabinet for storing dishes.
- A piece of furniture (cabinet) to be placed on top of a desk.
- A measure of two Winchester bushels.
- The case of a flour bolt.
- A car on low wheels, in which coal is drawn in the mine and hoisted out of the pit.
- A jig or trough for ore dressing or washing ore.
- A baker's kneading-trough.
- (slang) The pavilion or dressing room.
-
An embankment built in a river to check erosion caused by running water.
There were deep pools in the river, known as hutch pools because they are formed by hutches - breakwaters - built out from the bank.
1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 35:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| hutches | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
booby hutch · hutchlike · Morant hutch · rabbit hutch
Translations (37)
de Kiste (box, chest, crate, case or cabinet) · gv kishtey conning (cage or coop for small animals) · izh kroljcatnikka (cage or coop for small animals) · gd bothan-còmhnaidh (cage or coop for small animals) · de Aufsatz (cabinet to be placed on top of a desk) · de Bergwerksfahrzeug ((mining) A car on low wheels) · de Box (box, chest, crate, case or cabinet) · de Stall (cage or coop for small animals) · de Vitrine (furniture in which items are displayed) · fi kaninkoppi (cage or coop for small animals) · de Hundehütte (cage or coop for small animals) · fr clapier (cage or coop for small animals) · de Kaninchenstall (cage or coop for small animals) · it conigliera (cage or coop for small animals) · de Anrichte (cabinet for storing dishes) · ru кле́тка (cage or coop for small animals) · de Förderwagen ((mining) A car on low wheels) · cs kotec (cage or coop for small animals) · ca conillera (cage or coop for small animals) · cs klec (cage or coop for small animals) · de Geschirrschrank (cabinet for storing dishes) · io kabaneto (cage or coop for small animals) · de Kredenz (cabinet for storing dishes) · cy cwt cwningen (cage or coop for small animals) · de Hunt ((mining) A car on low wheels) · de Kasten (box, chest, crate, case or cabinet) · de Hasenstall (cage or coop for small animals) · de Grubenhunt ((mining) A car on low wheels) · de Hund ((mining) A car on low wheels) · es conejera (cage or coop for small animals) · bg вагонетка ((mining) A car on low wheels) · ga púirín coinín (cage or coop for small animals) · cs králíkárna (cage or coop for small animals) · bg клетка (cage or coop for small animals) · uk кроля́тник (cage or coop for small animals) · it gabbia (cage or coop for small animals) · de Schreibtischaufsatz (cabinet to be placed on top of a desk)