rabbit-hutch
Definition
Noun: - A small, often wooden or wire enclosure designed for housing domestic rabbits. It typically has a raised floor, a sleeping area, and sometimes a run or attached yard for exercise.
Usage Examples
- (A small enclosure for rabbits.)
- (A cage or pen for rabbits.)
Advanced Usage
- "rabbit-hutch" is sometimes used metaphorically to describe a cramped, confined living space, especially in overcrowded housing conditions.
- The old tenement building was nothing more than a rabbit-hutch, with dozens of families squeezed into tiny rooms. (A cramped, overcrowded dwelling.)
Variants and Related Words
- Rabbit (n): a small, burrowing mammal of the family Leporidae, often kept as a pet or for meat and fur.
- Hutch (n): a box or cage for small animals, typically rabbits or guinea pigs.
- Rabbitry (n): a place where rabbits are bred and raised, often on a larger scale than a single hutch.
Synonyms
- Rabbit cage: a general term for any enclosure for rabbits.
- Rabbit pen: a larger, often outdoor enclosure for rabbits.
- Warren: a system of underground burrows where wild rabbits live (not a synonym for a man-made hutch, but related in meaning).
Related Idioms
"Breed like rabbits": to reproduce very quickly and in large numbers (not directly about the hutch, but about rabbits themselves).
- The stray cats breed like rabbits, so the shelter is always full of kittens. (They reproduce rapidly.)
"Out of the rabbit hutch": an informal expression meaning to leave a cramped or restricted environment.
- After years in the city, he felt like he was finally out of the rabbit hutch when he moved to the countryside. (He escaped a confined or oppressive living situation.)