cabin
Americannoun
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cabins
plural
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a small house or cottage, usually of simple design and construction.
He was born in a cabin built of rough logs.
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an enclosed space for more or less temporary occupancy, as the living quarters in a trailer or the passenger space in a cable car.
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the enclosed space for the pilot, cargo, or especially passengers in an air or space vehicle.
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an apartment or room in a ship, as for passengers.
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(in a naval vessel) living accommodations for officers.
- Synonyms:
- compartment
adverb
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a small simple dwelling; hut
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a simple house providing accommodation for travellers or holiday-makers at a motel or holiday camp
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a room used as an office or living quarters in a ship
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a covered compartment used for shelter or living quarters in a small boat
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(in a warship) the compartment or room reserved for the commanding officer
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another name for signal box
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the enclosed part of a light aircraft in which the pilot and passengers sit
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the part of an airliner in which the passengers are carried
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the section of an aircraft used for cargo
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verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cabin
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English cabane, from Middle French, from Old Provençal cabana, from Late Latin capanna, of uncertain, perhaps pre-Latin origin; spelling with “i” perhaps by influence of French cabine ( see cabinet)
Explanation
A small wooden hut or cottage can be called a cabin, especially if it's in a remote or wooded place. Your grandfather's cabin on a lake might be your favorite place to visit in the summer. You might dream of living in a cabin deep in the forest, or on the edge of a mountain. Another kind of cabin is a small compartment or room, particularly one on a ship or an airplane. If you have "cabin fever," it means you're restless and cranky after being stuck in a small space for too long. The word comes from a Late Latin root, capanna, "hut."
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:
After a cancer diagnosis, two L.A. musicians turned their Topanga A-frame cabin into a sanctuary, reshaping every room — and garden — to prioritize serenity, views and healing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Over in Wyoming, Perry owns a log cabin as a vacation home, which he snapped up in 2005.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Ted wasn’t always the wild-eyed figure the FBI dragged out of a 10×12 cabin in the woods.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
The chaos set off a wave of screaming in the cabin as passengers grappled with the events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
To Penelope he said, “It’s plain by the look on your face the answer is yes. To be continued, Alf the cabin boy!”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Some teams have complained about the temporary cabins, even saying the beds are too short.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Airlines are overhauling their airplane cabins to tap in to growing demand for travel luxuries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
"The whole ship was a sweat box," he said, with some passengers in cabins that had no windows resorting to sleeping on the ship's roof.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Heading west from Guerneville, you roll through Monte Rio, seeing more redwoods, cabins and glimpses of river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
That had been the first night that Jinny and Deen hadn’t sat up by themselves talking before bed, watching the stars from the path in front of their cabins.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
