One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
1A small cubicle with a desk for the use of a reader or student in a library.
cubicle, kiosk, box, compartment, enclosure, cupboard, cubbyholeView synonyms
- ‘A wide variety of seating, carrels or workstations, and generous tabletops must be well distributed throughout the library, close to research materials, as well as gathered in larger reading rooms.’
- ‘‘Okay, first, let's list down what you have done at the party last night,’ Michael told Manda when they had settled themselves in the library carrel.’
- ‘This sudden descent into darkness would be followed by cursing from the vicinity of the open carrels where readers had lost track of time.’
- ‘Almost as soon as the carrels were set up they were full.’
- ‘Study carrels were sometimes placed along a corridor's edge.’
- ‘They observed the quiet intensity of the students in their assigned carrels.’
- ‘She grabbed her flashlight and ran out of her carrel.’
- ‘That evening, I spent an hour in the Laidlaw Library, sitting in a carrel, pretending to study some book I'd grabbed off the shelf.’
- ‘Flat open tables are preferred to enclosed furniture or carrels, so that ‘natural surveillance’ can be maintained at all times.’
- ‘The courtroom in Arusha looks like a high-school library, with practical carpeting and schoolhouse desks divided by carrels.’
- ‘The quantities and locations of reading tables, carrels, shelving, and other furniture and equipment are manipulated to meet current and changing needs.’
- ‘As a place, we are now providing silent study areas on floors four and five in addition to study carrels throughout the Library and the floor two group study area, where two bookable group study rooms are now available.’
- ‘Traditionally, humanities faculty have worked somewhat in isolation, with the library carrel being a second home.’
- ‘An open central court provided natural lighting and quiet space with carrels for each graduate student and postdoctoral visitor.’
- ‘Having nothing else to do, she spent most of the week in her carrel working on her research.’
- ‘Fullerton also revealed that the carrels will be made larger.’
- ‘Tara had a semester off from her assistantship, so she was spending more time in her carrel, dividing her time between research, writing, and hanging out online.’
- ‘When he reached Manda, he had found her sitting alone in a carrel, staring into space.’
- ‘My best writing period came when I'd go to a carrel in the library every morning and work on the novel for one or two or three hours.’
- ‘In this design 150 workstations, most with computer terminals, replaced stacks containing books and carrels within the Building 8 library designed by Edmond and Corrigan.’
- 1.1historical A small enclosure or study in a cloister.
Late 16th century: apparently related to carol in the old sense ‘ring’.
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