Cabin Meaning
/ˈkæbɪn/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but by those who meant to live in it.
nounA chalet or lodge, especially one that can hold large groups of people.
Sentence Examples
The cabin was built of logs.
The writer is living in a log cabin.
I lay in my cabin feeling miserably seasick.
CEFR Practice Quiz
We rented a small wooden ____ in the woods for the weekend.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They spent their winter holiday in a small log ____ in the woods.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English caban, cabane, from Old French cabane, from Medieval Latin capanna (“a cabin”); see further etymology there. Doublet of cabana and cabane.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And that was how long we stayed in the cabin, pressed together, pulling the future out of each other, sweating and groaning and making sure each of us remembered."
— 1994, Michael Grumley, “Life Drawing”, in Violet Quill:
"There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place."
— 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
"Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"So long in secret cabin there he held her captive."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 23:
"There’s Kaul’s boss, the overweight owner of a pharmaceutical firm who spends his days wolfing down junk food in the privacy of his cabin."
— 2008 November 15, Tony Thakaran, “Dasvidaniya: A bittersweet slice of middle-class life”, in Reuters Blogs, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2008:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
We rented a small wooden ____ in the woods for the weekend.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They spent their winter holiday in a small log ____ in the woods.