hutch

American  

[huhch] / hʌtʃ /

noun

• hutches
  plural

1. a pen or enclosed coop for small animals.

   rabbit hutch.

   Synonyms:

   cote, enclosure, cage

2. a chest, cupboard, bin, etc., for storage.

3. any of various chestlike cabinets, raised on legs and having doors or drawers in front, sometimes with open shelves above.

4. a small cottage, hut, or cabin.

5. a baker's kneading trough.

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hutch British  

/ hʌtʃ /

noun

1. a cage, usually of wood and wire mesh, for small animals

2. informal a small house

3. a cart for carrying ore

4. a trough, esp one used for kneading dough or (in mining) for washing ore

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verb

1. (tr) to store or keep in or as if in a hutch

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hutches
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hutch

1275–1325; Middle English hucche, variant of whucce, Old English hwicce chest; not akin to Old French huge, huche ( ch form apparently by contamination with English word)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hutch hutches

Jack paused, grabbed a pen and stationery from the kitchen hutch, went back to his seat at the table and began to write.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026

I came across exactly one ultra-rare single-zero roulette wheel on the Strip, which felt a little bit like uncovering the hutch of the last surviving dodo.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025

The hutch, procured at an estate sale, originally belonged to a high school friend’s grandmother.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2024

On a cattle ranch just east of the lighthouse, William Nunes, 27, watched as the wind ripped a calf hutch from the ground and sent it flying into the air and over a hill.

From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

If it had not been for the metal staple arresting the pivoting, he might actually have fallen inside the hutch.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

A low table surrounded by hutches full of antique Japanese tea sets and rice bowls is set for lunch, but only with sampuru, the lifelike models of food often used by Japanese restaurants.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2022

That includes dropping off pet food or hutches to homes, and paying to have animals spayed or neutered.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2022

Barracks were called rabbit hutches in reports at the time.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2022

Green wallpaper with floral patterns cover the walls of the formal dining room, where china is displayed in antique hutches and still-life paintings of fruit rest on wood trim.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 25, 2020

We turned at the corner where a tall stack of rabbit hutches butted against a stack of dove cages.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago