cupboard

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English cuppeborde, cupbord. Equivalent to cup + board. Phonetic variants show that the /p/ in the original forms had assimilated to the present-day /b/ by the 16th century; the etymological spelling has, however, dominated from the 18th century.

noun

1. (obsolete) A board or table used to openly hold and display silver plate and other dishware; a sideboard; a buffet. [14th–18th c.]
   Cupboꝛde of plate or to ſette plate upon buffet z ma. 18 July 1530, Iohan Palſgrave, “The thirde boke”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe[…], London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 203; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972
   from the cobbarde byſyde owr dyninge table 1555, Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, “The fourth booke of the seconde Decade, of the supposed Continent”, in Richard Eden, transl., Decades of the New World, page 68
   Now when the maids and pages all were gone, / One onely lampe upon the cubbard burning[…] 1591, Ludovico Ariosto, translated by Sir John Harington, Orlando Furioso, London: G. Miller, translation of original in Italian, published 1634, book XXV, stanza 49, page 201
2. (obsolete) Things displayed on a sideboard; dishware, particularly valuable plate. [16th–19th c.]
   But howe comme to pas, / Your cupbord that was / Is tourned to glasse, / From syluere to brasse, / From golde to pewter, / Or els to a newter, / To copper, to tyn, / To lede, or alcumyn? a. 1529, John Skelton, Why Come Ye Nat to Courte?; published in John Skelton; Alexander Dyce, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: With Notes, and Some Account of the Author and His Writings, by the Rev. Alexander Dyce. In Two Volumes., volume II, London: Thomas Rodd, Great Newport Street, 1843, OCLC 733571702, page 54, lines 897–904
3. A cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture with shelves intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food; similar cabinets or closets used for storing other items.
   Put the cups back into the cupboard.
   Cupborde to putte meate in – dressover s, m. 18 July 1530, Iohan Palſgrave, Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe[…], London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 211; reprinted as L'éclaircissement de la langue française par Jean Palsgrave[…], Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1852
   Old Mother Hubbard / Went to the cupboard, / To give the poor dog a bone; / When she came there, / The cupboard was bare, / And so the poor dog had none. 1 May 1814, “Minimus” [pseudonym], “Fine Arts”, in The Satirist, or Monthly Meteor, volume XIV, number 18 (New Series), London: Printed for Samuel Tipper by T. Gillet, →OCLC, page 417
   A cupboard with shelves for music-books. 1874, J[ohn] T[homas] Micklethwaite, Modern Parish Churches: Their Plan, Design, and Furniture, London: Henry S. King & Co. 65 Cornhill and 12 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 161
   As he had figured it out so far, the cupboard, or the key, or both together, brought plastic things to life, or if they were already alive, turned them into plastic. There were a lot of questions to be answered, though. Did it only work with plastic? Would, say, wooden or metal figures also come to life if shut up in the cupboard? 1980, Lynne Reid Banks, “Thirty Scalps”, in The Indian in the Cupboard, London: J. M. Dent
   Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. 1997, J[oanne] K[athleen] Rowling, “The Vanishing Glass”, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, London: Bloomsbury Publishing
4. (obsolete) Things stored in a cupboard; particularly food.
   Some men they [make] love for what they can get, / And 'tis certain there's many a Lubbard; / Will sigh and will pant, seeming ready to faint, / And all for the love of the cubbard, brave boys! / And all [for the love of the Cup-board]. c. 1665, Roxburghe Ballads; published as J[oseph] W[oodfall] Ebsworth, editor, The Roxburghe Ballads: Illustrating the Last Years of the Stuarts, volume VI, Hertford: Printed for the Ballad Society by S. Austin and Sons, 1871–1899, OCLC 13767296, page 529, lines 26–30

verb

1. To collect, as into a cupboard; to hoard.
   There was a time, when all the bodies members / Rebell'd againſt the Belly; thus accus'd it: / That onely like a Gulfe it did remaine / I'th midd'ſt a th'body, idle and vnactiue, / Still cubbording the Viand, neuer bearing / Like labour with the reſt, where th'other Inſtruments / Did ſee, and heare, deuiſe, inſtruct, walke, feele, / And mutually participate, did miniſter / Vnto the appetite; […] 1613, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act I, scene i, pages 1–2