Wiktionary

closet

See also: clóset

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) +‎ -et (“forming diminutives”), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close +‎ -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.[1]

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

 
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closet (plural closets)

  1. A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.
  2. (obsolete) Any private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air.
  3. (now rare) Any private or inner room, (particularly):
    • 1765, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: […] W. Whitestone, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 9:
      VVhen come to the place vvhere vve all vvere to dine, / (A chair-lumber'd Cloſet, juſt tvvelve feet by nine) / My friend bid me vvelcome, but ſtruck me quite dumb / VVith tidings that Johnson and Burke coud not come: […]
    1. (obsolete) A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.
    2. (archaic) A private room used for prayer or other devotions.
    3. (figuratively, archaic) A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.
      • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
        [A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […]
    4. (archaic) The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.
  4. (obsolete) A pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.
  5. A private cabinet, (particularly):
    1. (obsolete) One used to store valuables.
    2. (archaic) One used to store curiosities.
      • 1659, Elias Ashmole, Diary, p. 326:
        Mr. Tradescant and his wife told me they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their closet of curiosities when they died.
      • 1681, Marquis of Halifax, Seasonable Addresses to the Houses of Parliament in Concise Succession, p. 10:
        The late House of Commons have... seiz'd Closets and Writings without Information.
    3. (figuratively) A secret or hiding place, (particularly) the hiding place in English idioms such as in the closet and skeleton in the closet.
      The closet can be a scary place for a gay teenager.
      He's so far in the closet, he can see Narnia.
    4. (slang, uncommon) Clipping of closet case.
  6. (now chiefly Scotland, Ireland) Any small room or side-room, (particularly):
    1. (US, Philippines) One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.
    2. (obsolete) Clipping of closet of ease, (later, UK) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.
  7. (heraldry) An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.
    Coordinate term: barrulet
  8. (Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.
  9. A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.

SynonymsEdit

HyponymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • → Czech: klozet
  • → Spanish: clóset
  • → Welsh: closet

TranslationsEdit

toilet — see toilet

AdjectiveEdit

closet (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) private
  2. closeted, secret (especially with reference to gay people who are in the closet)
    He's a closet case.
    • 1940, Walton Hall Smith, Liquor, the servant of man:
      I wonder if there is another in the world that could produce, among perfectly normal people, this strangest quirk in the agenda of liquordom, the closet drinker.
  3. Denoting anything kept a secret or private.

See alsoEdit

VerbEdit

closet (third-person singular simple present closets, present participle closeting, simple past and past participle closeted)

  1. (transitive) To shut away for private discussion.
    The ambassador has been closeted with the prime minister all afternoon. We're all worried what will be announced when they exit.
  2. (transitive) To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.
  3. (transitive) To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.
    • 1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium, or A Review of Schools, [1]
      See what contempt is fallen on human kind; […] See Bedlam's closeted and handcuff'd charge / Surpass'd in frenzy by the mad at large;
    • 1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, p. 55,
      […] she had to look twice over her shoulder when the Gay Northeasters and the City Belles strolled down Seventh Avenue, they were so handsome. But this envy-streaked pleasure Alice closeted, and never let the girl see how she admired those ready-for-bed-in-the-street clothes.

Derived termsEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. "closet, n."

AnagramsEdit

Old FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From clos +‎ -et.

NounEdit

closet m (oblique plural closez or closetz, nominative singular closez or closetz, nominative plural closet)

  1. A small enclosed area, such as a field or a paddock.

PortugueseEdit

 
A dressing room adjoining a domestic room

EtymologyEdit

Unadapted borrowing from English closet.

NounEdit

closet m (plural closets)

  1. dressing room, walk-in closet (US), walk-in wardrobe (UK) (a small room adjoining a domestic bedroom where people may dress or undress in privacy)
    • 2020 September 2, Luane Baptista, “Como montar um closet no apartamento: ideias e orientações”, in CRB Construtora‎[2]:

Further readingEdit

RomanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English (water) closet, via French (water-)closet and semi-calque German (Wasser)Klosett.

NounEdit

closet n (plural closete)

  1. toilet, latrine, bathroom

DeclensionEdit

Declension of closet
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) closet closetul (niște) closete closetele
genitive/dative (unui) closet closetului (unor) closete closetelor
vocative closetule closetelor

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

SpanishEdit

NounEdit

closet m (plural closets)

  1. Alternative spelling of clóset

WelshEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From English closet.

Alternative formsEdit

NounEdit

closet m (plural closetau)

  1. closet

Further readingEdit

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “closet”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Etymology 2Edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Alternative formsEdit

VerbEdit

closet

  1. second-person singular conditional colloquial of cloi

MutationEdit

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
closet gloset nghloset chloset
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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