A drawer is a box-shaped container that slides in and out of a piece of furniture like a desk, dresser, or filing cabinet. You pull a drawer open by its handle to store or retrieve things inside, then push it closed to keep everything organized and out of sight.

Most dressers have several drawers stacked on top of each other, each one perfect for holding different types of clothing: socks in one drawer, shirts in another. Kitchen drawers might hold silverware, cooking utensils, or dish towels. A desk drawer keeps pens, paper clips, and important papers organized and easy to find.

Some drawers slide smoothly on metal tracks, while older furniture might have wooden drawers that stick a bit when you pull them.

People also use drawer to mean someone who draws pictures or illustrations, though this meaning is much less common. You might see it in old-fashioned phrases like “the drawer of this map,” but today we usually just say artist or illustrator instead.