the.com/highboy
a chest of drawers that grew legs and ambitions
means A tall chest of drawers mounted on legs, often in two stacked sections, used for storing clothing and linens.
from An American coinage, the homely English half-translation of the French 'haut bois' — literally 'high wood' — paired down to 'highboy.' Its low-slung companion got the matching name 'lowboy.' Note the parallel with 'tallboy,' a British term for a similar towering chest, where '-boy' likewise seems to be a worn-down echo of French 'bois,' wood. So the 'boy' here was never a boy at all, just lumber in disguise.
- colonial flex
- signaled wealth in 18th-century American homes
- two parts
- often a chest stacked atop a lowboy
- queen anne
- prized examples wear cabriole legs and finials
- name source
- a casual riff on French "haut bois"
chippendale highboy — 18th-century american furniture style with ornate carved legs and multiple drawers, prized by collectors
queen anne highboy — early 1700s tall chest on legs with cabriole legs, iconic in american colonial furniture