different between pigeonhole vs codify

English

Alternative forms

• pigeon-hole
• pigeon hole

Etymology

pigeon +? hole.

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

Pronunciation

Noun

pigeonhole (plural pigeonholes)

1. One of an array of compartments for housing pigeons.
2. 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.

Translations

Verb

pigeonhole (third-person singular simple present pigeonholes, present participle pigeonholing, simple past and past participle pigeonholed)

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.

   • 1902, Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows

     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.

2. To put aside, to not act on (proposals, suggestions, advice).
   • 1910, Angus Hamilton, Herbert Henry Austin, Masatake Terauchi, Korea: Its History, Its People, and Its Commerce, page 294

     These laws were not carried into effect: they were pigeon-holed.

   • 1917, The Crisis, November 1917 issue, The Looking Glass: Election laws in Southern California, page 29

     [...] vociferously declared that they had the evidence. But no one prosecutes. No one swears out a warrant. The evidence is pigeonholed.

   • 2008, Edward Sidlow, Beth Henschen, America at Odds, page 251

     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.

Synonyms

• (not act on): mothball, shelve, table, glove box

Translations

Derived terms

• pidge

Related terms

• pigeonhole principle
• pigeonholeable
• pigeonholer

See also

• cubbyhole

English

Etymology

code +? -ify

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?.d??fa?/, /?ko?.d??fa?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??.d??fa?/

Verb

codify (third-person singular simple present codifies, present participle codifying, simple past and past participle codified)

1. To reduce to a code, to arrange into a code.

2. To collect and arrange in a systematic form.

   • The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth?; […]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “?near-aissance.”

Synonyms

• systematize

Derived terms

Related terms

• code
• codex

Translations