drawer

[drawr for 1, 2; draw-er for 3–6]

See more synonyms for drawer on Thesaurus.com

noun

a sliding, lidless, horizontal compartment, as in a piece of furniture, that may be drawn out in order to gain access to it.
drawers, (used with a plural verb) an undergarment, with legs, that covers the lower part of the body.
a person or thing that draws.

Finance. a person who draws an order, draft, or bill of exchange.
Metalworking. a person who operates a drawbench.
a tapster.

Origin of drawer

1300–50, 1580–90 for def 1, 1560–70 for def 2; Middle English; see draw, -er¹

Related formspre·draw·er, nounre·draw·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for drawer

bin, crate, crib, wallet, sheath, integument, receptacle, compact, casket, baggage, wrapper, chest, chamber, folder, carton, grip, shell, cartridge, safe, envelope

Examples from the Web for drawer

Contemporary Examples of drawer

And who else would let them gather dust in some drawer for nearly 50 years?
Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, and Others Crowdsource A Dylan Album
Malcolm Jones
November 16, 2014
But then I had to go back to earning real money and went to work for ‬Businessweek‪ and put the book in a drawer for a long time.
How The Cold War Endgame Played Out In The Rubble Of The Berlin Wall
William O’Connor
November 9, 2014
On the day when he pulled open the drawer to show me the gun, I wonder, what I was thinking?
Don Carpenter Was a Novelist Both Lacerating and Forgiving
Louis B. Jones
July 14, 2014
The gun Don used, he kept in the drawer of his writing table at the window, where he always worked.
Don Carpenter Was a Novelist Both Lacerating and Forgiving
Louis B. Jones
July 14, 2014
But it was still the place where Kandynce did not need eyesight to find a door or a drawer or a knob.
Killed by Donald Sterling’s Racism
Michael Daly
May 14, 2014

Historical Examples of drawer

A goodly pile of letters met her eyes as she opened the drawer.
Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus
Jessie Graham Flower
"Altogether, monsieur," said the concierge, fingering the key of the drawer that held it.
The Incomplete Amorist
E. Nesbit
He was silent for a moment, and then, opening a drawer, he took out a letter.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
He had taken these lists from the drawer of the prisoner's desk.
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
He went to a drawer, unlocked it, and took out a long blue envelope.
Jennie Baxter, Journalist
Robert Barr

British Dictionary definitions for drawer

drawer

noun

a person or thing that draws, esp a draughtsman
a person who draws a chequeSee draw (def. 15)
a person who draws up a commercial paper
archaic a person who draws beer, etc, in a bar
(drɔː) a boxlike container in a chest, table, etc, made for sliding in and out

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

Word Origin and History for drawer

mid-14c., agent noun from draw (v.). Attested from 1570s in sense of a box that can be "drawn" out of a cabinet.

Idioms and Phrases with drawer

drawer

see top drawer.