A distributed metadata cache for a distributed object store includes a plurality of cache entries, an active-cache-entry set and an unreferenced-cache-entry set. Each cache entry includes information relating to whether at least one input/output (IO) thread is referencing the cache entry and information relating to whether the cache entry is no longer referenced by at least one IO thread. Each cache entry in the active-cache-entry set includes information that indicates that at least one IO thread is actively referencing the cache entry. Each cache entry in the unreferenced-cache-entry set is eligible for eviction from the distributed metadata cache by including information that indicates that the cache entry is no longer actively referenced by an IO thread.