cupboard
Americannoun
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cupboards
plural
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a closet with shelves for dishes, cups, etc.
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Chiefly British. any small closet or cabinet, as for clothes, food, or the like.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cupboard
First recorded in 1275–1325, cupboard is from the Middle English word cuppebord. See cup, board
Explanation
A cupboard is a piece of furniture that's used for storing things. Your kitchen cupboard might actually be full of cups, while the cupboard in your bedroom might hold sweaters and socks. Some cupboards are built into a wall, like a closet, while others are freestanding cabinets. A cupboard usually has doors that open and shelves inside, for storage. The very earliest cupboards, in the 14th century, were exactly what the word describes: a board or table used for putting cups or dishes on. Over the following two hundred years, cupboard came to mean an enclosed cabinet for the same purpose.
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 she downsized, she opened her cupboard and showed him four plates, four saucers, four cups and four bowls.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
Defense contractors are spending billions to build factories and increase production to stock America’s nearly bare cupboard of highly engineered missiles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
So bereft is the ideas cupboard that even notoriously mediocre 1990s films are being summoned back to life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
The woman's Do Not Attempt Resuscitation document was also found scrunched up in a cupboard, the report added.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
He let go of her then and searched the cupboard, even running his hands over the shelves, though he must have been able to see there was no rice.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
One robot tidied cupboards and wiped surfaces, while others put orange juice and milk in the fridge, threw away empty packaging and loaded the dishwasher.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The quake occurred at 8:10 a.m. and was strong enough to knock items off shelves and out of cupboards, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
For the hardware, the couple will be replacing the existing silver-toned metal with gold, including new faucets, new drawer handles, and new knobs for the cupboards.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 8, 2026
It also inspired a Peacock streaming show in which Swedes visit America to counsel people who can’t cram anything more into their closets and cupboards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
I think it should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards.
From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon
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.
