Meaning & use
meatsafe
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A small cupboard or box with holes or wire mesh for keeping meat cool and safe from insects or animals.
Grammar: Countable: a meatsafe, two meatsafes. Often used with 'in' or 'into': put the meat in the meatsafe.
Patterns
- a meatsafe
- in the meatsafe
- into the meatsafe
In the days before refrigerators, people hung their meat in a meatsafe to keep it fresh.
The old farmhouse still had a wooden meatsafe in the pantry.
She placed the cooked chicken in the meatsafe so the flies wouldn't get to it.
Word forms
| plural | meatsafes |
|---|
Common combinations
- wooden meatsafe
- The antique shop sold a large wooden meatsafe from the 1800s.
- wire meatsafe
- A wire meatsafe allows air to circulate around the meat.
- hang meat in a meatsafe
- They used to hang meat in a meatsafe to keep it away from cats.
- meatsafe in the pantry
- The meatsafe in the pantry was empty except for a few sausages.
Synonyms and how they differ
- meat safe
- The same object, but written as two words. This spelling is also common, especially in British English.
- larder
- A cool room or cupboard for storing all kinds of food, not just meat; it is larger and more general than a meatsafe.
- cooler
- A container that keeps food cold, often with ice; it is more modern and not usually made of wood or mesh.
Commonly confused: meatsafe or meat safe? meatsafe or safe meat?
meatsafe vs meat safe
This is not a different word; it is just another spelling of 'meatsafe'. Both refer to the same food-storage cupboard.
meatsafe vs safe meat
This phrase means meat that is safe to eat, which is completely different from a 'meatsafe' (a storage cupboard).
Practice
What is a 'meatsafe'?
Choose one answer.
A meatsafe is a storage container or cupboard, often with mesh, used before refrigerators were common. Option An is wrong because it describes a knife. Option C is wrong because it describes a substance. Option D is wrong because it describes a person or job.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “meatsafe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.