crash pad

American  

noun

1. Slang. a place to sleep or live temporarily and at no cost.

2. padding inside cars, tanks, or the like, for protecting passengers in the event of an accident, sudden stop, etc.

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crash pad British  

noun

1. slang a place to sleep or live temporarily

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crash pad Idioms  

1. A free, temporary lodging place, as in The company maintains several crash pads for employees from out-of-town divisions. This expression originally referred to a place affording runaways, drug addicts, and the like somewhere to crash in the sense of “sleep.” In time it also was used more broadly, as in the example. [Slang; 1960s]

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Etymology

Origin of crash pad

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

In a mostly quiet neighborhood of older homes and small apartment buildings, some residents have drawn their own no-go zones around what might sound like a crash pad for traveling backpackers: hostels.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2024

She shared an apartment with another code breaker in a rowhouse at 1633 Q St. NW, which became a crash pad of sorts for members of the military and others without a place to sleep.

From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2022

His plaid three-piece suit made him look like an awkward substitute teacher, she thought, and certainly out of place among the hippies and would-be revolutionaries using the publication’s decrepit Detroit office as a crash pad.

From New York Times • Aug. 3, 2020

If they used a crash pad here, more power to them.

From Slate • Apr. 7, 2020

The shriek of the dive shook every nerve in Stan's body, and set him back against the crash pad, holding him there with a powerful grip.

From A Yankee Flier with the R.A.F. by Montgomery, Rutherford George