Noun
pigeonhole principle (countable and uncountable, plural pigeonhole principles)
(mathematics) The theorem which states that any partition of a finite set of n elements into m (< n) subsets (allowing empty subsets) must include a subset with two or more elements; any of certain reformulations concerning the partition of infinite sets where the cardinality of the unpartitioned set exceeds that of the partition (so there is no one-to-one correspondence).