hutch

American  

[huhch] / hʌtʃ /

noun

1. a pen or enclosed coop for small animals.

   rabbit hutch.

   Synonyms:

   cote, enclosure, cage

2. a chest, cupboard, bin, etc., for storage.

3. any of various chestlike cabinets, raised on legs and having doors or drawers in front, sometimes with open shelves above.

4. a small cottage, hut, or cabin.

5. a baker's kneading trough.

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hutch British  

/ hʌtʃ /

noun

1. a cage, usually of wood and wire mesh, for small animals

2. informal a small house

3. a cart for carrying ore

4. a trough, esp one used for kneading dough or (in mining) for washing ore

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verb

1. (tr) to store or keep in or as if in a hutch

Etymology

Origin of hutch

1275–1325; Middle English hucche, variant of whucce, Old English hwicce chest; not akin to Old French huge, huche ( ch form apparently by contamination with English word)

Example Sentences

Jack paused, grabbed a pen and stationery from the kitchen hutch, went back to his seat at the table and began to write.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

I came across exactly one ultra-rare single-zero roulette wheel on the Strip, which felt a little bit like uncovering the hutch of the last surviving dodo.

From Slate • Nov. 18, 2025

I got the Sellers Hoosier, a wooden hutch with a built-in tin flour bin and a metal bread kneading shelf, now more than 100 years old, that my great-grandmother used to bake on.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2024

On a cattle ranch just east of the lighthouse, William Nunes, 27, watched as the wind ripped a calf hutch from the ground and sent it flying into the air and over a hill.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2024

Holly, gaunt, his staring pelt full of goose grass and fragments of burdock, was talking with the three hutch rabbits and reassuring them as best he could.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams