crash pad

noun

1. Slang.,  a place to sleep or live temporarily and at no cost.

2. padding inside cars, tanks, or the like, for protecting passengers in the event of an accident, sudden stop, etc.

crash pad

noun

1. slang,  a place to sleep or live temporarily

Word History and Origins

Origin of crash pad¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Idioms and Phrases

A free, temporary lodging place, as in The company maintains several crash pads for employees from out-of-town divisions. This expression originally referred to a place affording runaways, drug addicts, and the like somewhere to crash in the sense of “sleep.” In time it also was used more broadly, as in the example. [Slang; 1960s]