hole-in-the-wall

English

Alternative forms

• hole in the wall

Noun

hole-in-the-wall (plural hole-in-the-walls or holes-in-the-wall)

1. A restaurant, shop or other establishment catering to customers that is particularly inconspicuous and easily overlooked.
2. (colloquial, chiefly British) An automated teller machine (ATM).

Usage notes

Although either plural can be used for both meanings, hole-in-the-walls tends to be most commonly used for the "obscure place" sense, and holes-in-the-wall is more frequently used to mean "automated teller machines".

Used to refer to an inconspicuous establishment, the term has a connotation that the quality of the food or rendered services deserves recognition.

The British sense of an automated teller machine may have originated as a trademark of Barclays.

Translations

a small or obscure place

• French: boui-boui (fr) m, gargote (fr)
• Japanese: 穴場 (あなば, anaba)
• Latin: gurgustium n

See also

• know someone from a hole in the wall