pigeonhole

Etymology

pigeon + hole. Originally literal hole for pigeons, later similar compartments for papers, then extended metaphorically in verb sense of narrowly categorizing or deferring.

noun

1. One of an array of compartments for housing pigeons in a pigeon loft (dovecote).
2. (by extension) One of an array of compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.
   Fred was disappointed to find his pigeonhole empty except for bills and a flyer offering 20% off on manicures.
3. One of an array of compartments for storing scrolls at a library.
4. A similar compartment in a desk, used for sorting and storing papers.
5. (figurative) A category.
   The Beat writers had very different styles and disliked the invented term and pigeonhole forced upon them. 2007-09-07, David Mills, “Do we need to keep the Beats in their box?”, in The Guardian
   Amazon’s new pigeonhole for books about unmarried females is far more old-fashioned than the ‘New Woman novel’ tag deployed in the 19th century 2018-05-04, Kaite Welsh, “'Single women fiction': how a genre went from subversive to sad”, in The Guardian

verb

1. To categorize; especially to limit or be limited to a particular category, role, etc.
   Fred was tired of being pigeonholed as a computer geek.
   He prided himself on his largeness when he granted that there were three kinds of women […] Not that he pigeon-holed Frona according to his inherited definitions. 1902, Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows
   I'm not gonna be able, to top on My Name Is And pigeonholed into some poppy sensation 2000, Eminem (lyrics and music), “The Way I Am”
2. To put aside, to not act on (proposals, suggestions, advice).
   These laws were not carried into effect: they were pigeon-holed. 1910, Angus Hamilton, Herbert Henry Austin, Masatake Terauchi, Korea: Its History, Its People, and Its Commerce, page 294
   […] vociferously declared that they had the evidence. But no one prosecutes. No one swears out a warrant. The evidence is pigeonholed. 1917, “The Looking Glass: Election laws in Southern California”, in The Crisis, number 11, page 29
   Alternatively, the chairperson may decide to put the bill aside and ignore it. Most bills that are pigeonholed in this manner receive no further action. 2008, Edward Sidlow, Beth Henschen, America at Odds, page 251