storeroom

Etymology

It is a compound formed from English store + room.^[2][3][4] The first part goes back through Old French estorer (“to provide, furnish”) to Latin instaurō (“to set up, renew”),^[3] and the second through Old English rūm (“space”) to Proto-Germanic *ruman.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A room for keeping goods or supplies: the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1685,^[5] and the OED's first quotation, from a letter of Philip Yorke, is from 1746,^[2][3] with Dictionary.com's range at 1740–50.^[4] The OED notes especially the stores of a ship or household.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1783 it was also used of space for storage rather than a particular room.^[2] It has been used figuratively, of a mind stocked with anecdotes or knowledge,^[5] and also for a room where goods on sale are displayed.^[5]

Timeline

• 1685 – a room for storing goods.^[5] The OED's first quotation is from 1746.^[2]
• 1783 – room or space for storage.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A room in which goods or supplies are kept: the ship's dry storeroom.^[6][5][2]
2. Space for storing things.^[6][5][2]
3. Figuratively, a storehouse of knowledge or the like.^[5]

Word family

• substoreroom

Related words

• storehouse

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins