bin

Definition:
An open-topped (or otherwise easily accessible) receptacle. Organizations customarily have the items they hold in STOCK stored in 'bins'. Thus a 'bin' can be of very variable size. A bin for small sizes of screws and washers may be no larger than a shoe box, while a bin for flywheels or other foundry produced items may have many cubic feet of capacity. 'Bins' can be non-descript and featureless when used in manufacturing plants, or other positions behind the scenes, or else can be colourful and attractively designed if used in SUPERMARKETS to display merchandise for sale. In this latter context they act not only as storage receptacles but also as sales dispensers, hence 'dumpbins'.

Cross-References:
[supermarket] [stock]

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