• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to put in the lumber room,” this idiom means to consign something to the dustbin of history — to discard it as outdated, obsolete, or no longer relevant. A ’lamus’ was historically a storehouse or outbuilding where old, unused items were kept. Today the phrase is used figuratively to dismiss old ideas, technologies, or customs. “Tę metodę dawno odłożono do lamusa” means that method was long ago abandoned as obsolete.

  Vocabulary

  • odłożyć — to put aside, to shelve (perfective)
  • lamusa — lumber room, junk store (genitive of 'lamus')
  • do — to, into (preposition governing genitive)

  Grammar note

  The preposition 'do' governs the genitive case, so 'lamus' becomes 'lamusa.' This is a perfective construction ('odłożyć'), emphasizing the completed act of discarding. The phrase is typically used in the passive or with impersonal subjects in journalistic Polish.

  Cultural context

  The word 'lamus' refers to a type of old Polish outbuilding — a timber storehouse common in noble estates. Today the word is archaic outside this fixed phrase. The expression is neutral to slightly elevated in register and appears frequently in journalism and commentary when discussing outdated practices. The English equivalent is 'to consign to the dustbin of history' or 'to relegate to the past.'

  Intermediate

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!