bottom drawer

American

[drawr] / drɔr /

noun

British.

any drawer used for a hope chest.

bottom drawer British

noun

US and Canadian equivalent: hope chest. a young woman's collection of clothes, linen, cutlery, etc, in anticipation of marriage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bottom drawer

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

bottom drawer

"I don't want it to be a doorstop or in the bottom drawer, I want it to be on the mantelpiece."

From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2025

The bottom drawer is for protein, which is good to put on the bottom because if anything drips it’s not going to cross-contaminate anything.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2023

I thought, “Yeah, you’ve got a script in the bottom drawer somewhere. Come on, you’re just not telling me what you want to do with the guy.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2023

The heart-stories behind the mailboxes are discreetly pasted, painted, hammered and welded into their forms like love letters secreted into the false bottom drawer of a writing desk.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2023

“There’s rations in the bottom drawer of the cabinet, and the jug of water on my desk is iodine-treated. Those plastic glasses are clean. Ish. Help yourself.”

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023