Why are cupboards called presses

This thread needs pictures and I remembered a photo of my cousin's children. I hope he does not mind my pinching it. They're not in a cupboard. A cupboard has doors. That's a shelf unit. I've never heard of a piece of furniture being called a press. So, there is an option missing off your poll. So, who's the third person who uses the word 'press'? I'm really surprised and somewhat disappointed at the paucity of hick-highlander-Teuchter response on this one. Each to their own I suppose, but in Hiberno-English it's press!

I voted press, but I'm from rural Ireland, so it's hardly surprising. It seems to be an Irish language thing from what I can gather. Interestingly not really , Wikipedia includes the word press as a synonym for cupboard on its page about cupboards.

Also interesting that Orla's picture of a shelving unit is actually not that far away from what the word cupboard originally was used to describe:. The term cupboard was originally used to describe an open-shelved side table for displaying plates, cups and saucers. These open cupboards typically had between one and three display tiers, and at the time, a drawer or multiple drawers fitted to them. The word cupboard gradually came to mean a closed piece of furniture. Posted 22 Nov It's also called a pie safe in the U.

Shows how important pie was to earlier generations, that multiple pies were in use over a period of time. Sadly, it appears the American press often doesn't need any outside help when it comes to censoring themselves. This time it would be the biggest mistake for the Western press to repeat that—absolutely the biggest mistake.

But the most important point I want to make is about what the press does now. And finally, this is who most of our political press is—gullible enough to be surprised by either of the first two. If the "Y" Beach lot press their advantage they may cut off the enemy troops on the toe of the Peninsula. All that scientific bric-a-brac in the cupboard had far better be thrown away. Your Feedback. Your Email optional. Report a Comment. Please select the reason for reporting this comment.

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