warehouse

Pluralwarehouses

Formswarehouses, warehousing, warehoused

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A large building for storing goods before they are sold or shipped out.

   Like a giant closet where a store keeps everything it has not put out yet.

   The company keeps all its products in a huge warehouse near the port.

   Boxes were stacked to the ceiling inside the warehouse.

   Similarstorehouse, depot, store, depository

   Note
2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To put goods in a large building and keep them there until they are needed.

   Like putting your toys in a big box to keep them until you want them.

   They warehouse all the extra stock until the holiday season.

   We warehouse the furniture before it goes out to the stores.

   Similarstore, stockpile, stock

   Note
3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To keep a person shut away in an institution for a very long time.

   Like packing people away in storage and leaving them there.

   Some families fear that nursing homes simply warehouse the elderly.

   The state used to warehouse orphans in crowded buildings.

   Similarconfine, institutionalize, detain

   Note
4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To buy something and then keep it unused, just so rivals cannot have it.

   Like buying the last ticket just so no one else can go.

   Big firms sometimes warehouse new ideas so smaller rivals cannot use them.

   The company chose to warehouse the patent rather than let a rival buy it.

   Similarshelve, bury, mothball

   Note

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