hidey-hole

noun

hid·​ey-hole ˈhī-dē-ˌhōl How to pronounce hidey-hole (audio)
variants or less commonly hidy-hole
informal
: an area or space used as a hiding place
Payday in Iraq means taking home a wodge of notes from your boss and shoving it under your bed or into some hidey-hole before finding time to visit your local bank to make a deposit.The Economist

Examples of hidey-hole in a Sentence

commandos captured the deposed dictator in a carefully camouflaged cellar that he had been using as a hidey-hole
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But no sooner had còsagach caught on than Gaelic speakers rose up in protest, saying the word didn’t evoke coziness so much as a damp hidey-hole, the kind of mossy burrow that a small creature might live in. Leslie Jamison, Travel + Leisure, 23 Jan. 2025 Aping the fastidious wartime geolocation of videos shot by Islamic State forces, Russian military units, and other murderous pariahs, the intrepid Bellingcat detective further pin-points Ammon’s hidey-hole with the aid of mountaineering-app PeakVisor, Google Earth, and Google Street View. Matt Thompson, SPIN, 5 Nov. 2024 Whereas wood and plastic boards are full of hidey-holes for nasties, titanium cutting boards leave no place for germs and odors to hide. Walden Green, Pitchfork, 29 Oct. 2024 Whereas wood and plastic boards are full of hidey-holes for nasties, titanium cutting boards leave no place for germs and odors to hide. Miles Walls, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Sep. 2024 And soon, nature lovers will have a new secret spot to peep them all: a gigantic sculpture that winds through the landscape and includes a hidey-hole specially for birdwatching. John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2024 Reef-building corals—the engineers of myriad underwater structures—create maritime megalopolises dense with crevices and hidey-holes for fish and other sea creatures. Fanni Szakal, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2024 Its ultimate honeymoon hidey-hole, though, is Villa Rahasia, an off-grid retreat on a secret cove reached via a 90-minute trek from the resort, where couples only have the stars in the sky for company. Chris Schalkx, Vogue, 4 Oct. 2023 Thus, Superior cleverly crafts a hidey-hole inside the fuel-filler flap, in which is inserted a spare key. John Phillips, Car and Driver, 26 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

alteration of earlier hiding-hole

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hidey-hole was in 1817

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hidey-hole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hidey-hole. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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