Chifforobe

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A chifforobe is a closet-like piece of furniture that combines a long space for hanging clothes (that is, a wardrobe or armoire) with a chest of drawers. Typically the wardrobe section runs down one side of the piece, while the drawers occupy the other side.

Chifforobes were first advertised in the 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue, which described them as "a modern invention, having been in use only a short time." The term itself is a combination of the words chiffonier and wardrobe. It is currently in use only in the United States, primarily in the southern United States.

In Southern literature, the chifforobe appears in Carson McCullers's 1953 short story "The Ballad of Sad Café" ("The room was furnished with a large chifforobe," p. 43) and in Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, in which Tom Robinson tries to help Mayella Ewell to "bust up this chiffarobe". A chifforobe is also referenced in the 2000 film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".

Alternative spellings, in order of usage frequency, include: chiffarobe, chifforobe, chifferobe, chiffrobe, chifrobe, and shifferobe.