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cupboard

A cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture with shelves intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food; similar cabinets or closets used for storing other items.

ˈkʌb.ədhistoricalCurrent136 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026+ Add a definition
🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
3 definitions
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Seen in the wild
6 citations · last seen May 2026

Seen in the wild

Definitions

UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK

A cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture with shelves intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food; similar cabinets or closets used for storing other items.

Heard in the wild
  • “I suspect there is a huge number of lists. What is lacking is willpower. Those with the most ability to act are politicians. They have their own skeletons in the cupboard to protect, and can see future opportunities to exploit (and the precedent to justify them).”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK

(obsolete) A board or table used to openly hold and display silver plate and other dishware; a sideboard; a buffet.

Cupboꝛde of plate or to ſette plate upon buffet z ma.
Origin: Inherited from , cupbord. Equivalent to . Phonetic variants show that the /p/ in the original forms had assimilated to the present-day /b/ by the 16th century; the etymological spelling has, however, dominated from the 18th century. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Heard in the wild
  • “A pain in the arse to clean and makes the annual outing then into the back of cupboard until your remember you’ve got one the following year….personal fave cheese and bean toastie.”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Most Breville toasters got used a few times & then got consiged to the back of a rarely opened cupboard…”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Tokka and Rahzar not side by side? You probably don't have your salt and pepper shakers in the same cupboard either”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Have somehow developed the habit of doing a fancy arm flourish over my head every time I straighten up from bending over so that I don't crack my skull open on a cupboard or something. Probably the one time I don't do this I WILL crack my skull open.”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “My boiler is in a tiny cupboard full of shelves. When engineers come to service it I tend to hover around, putting my hand between their head and the shelf corners. They think I'm nuts.”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
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UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK

(obsolete) Things displayed on a sideboard; dishware, particularly valuable plate.

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UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.

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