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
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈklɒzɪt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈklɑzɪt/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒzɪt
NounEdit
closet (plural closets)
- (obsolete) Any private area, (particularly) bowers in the open air.
- (now rare) Any private or inner room, (particularly):
- 1776, Oliver Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare
- a chair-lumbered closet, just twelve feet by nine
- (obsolete) A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.
- 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, p. 206:
- Closet for a lady to make her redy in, chamberette.
- 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, p. 206:
- (archaic) A private room used for prayer or other devotions.
- (figuratively, archaic) A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.
- a. 1600, Robert Hooker, Of Lawes Eccl. and Politie, Ch. vii, § 24:
- ...abroad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets...
- a. 1600, Robert Hooker, Of Lawes Eccl. and Politie, Ch. vii, § 24:
- (archaic) The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.
- 1776, Oliver Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare
- (obsolete) A pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.
- A private cabinet, (particularly):
- (obsolete) One used to store valuables.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar, Act III, Scene ii, l. 130:
- (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.
- 1659, Elias Ashmole, Diary, p. 326:
- (now chiefly US) One used to store food or other household supplies: a cupboard.
- 1799 May 17, Jane Austen, letter:
- (figuratively) A secret or hiding place, (particularly) the hiding place in English idioms such as in the closet and skeleton in the closet.
- 1530, Myroure of Oure Ladye, Ch. ii, p. 233:
- The closet can be a scary place for a gay teenager.
- He's so far in the closet, he can see Narnia.
- (obsolete) One used to store valuables.
- (now chiefly Scotland, Ireland) Any small room or side-room, (particularly):
- (US) One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.
- (obsolete) Clipping of closet of ease, (later, Britain) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.
- (heraldry) An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.
- (Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.
SynonymsEdit
- (place of fanciful theorization): armchair
- (furniture or shelving used for storage): See cabinet
- (room with a toilet): See Thesaurus:bathroom
HyponymsEdit
- (A small closet with built-in lock): locker
- (A small room used for storage): walk-in closet, storage room
- (A storage area set into a wall, used for storing food or dishware): cupboard, pantry, larder, cabinet
- (A piece of furniture, used for storing clothes): wardrobe, armoire, press (Irish & Scots)
- (A piece of furniture, used for storing food or dishware): cupboard, sideboard, cabinet, press (Irish & Scots), wardrobe (UK)
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms
- bed-closet
- chemical closet
- Clerk of the Closet, clerk of the closet
- closet candlestick, closet-candlestick
- closet case
- closet-chapel
- closet-chaplain
- closet-devotion
- closet-door
- closet-draught
- closet of ease
- closet of the heart
- closet-help
- closet-keeper
- closet-lucubration
- closet-meditation
- closet-philosopher
- closet picture, closet-picture
- closet politician, closet-politician
- closet-prayer
- closet-preparation
- closet-reasoner
- closet-religion
- closet-speculation
- closet-student
- closet-study
- closet-vow
- closetwork, closet-work
- come out of the closet
- earth closet
- glass closet
- in the closet
- skeleton in the closet
- water closet, water-closet, WC
DescendantsEdit
TranslationsEdit
furniture
|
|
small private chamber
|
toilet — see toilet
AdjectiveEdit
closet (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Private.
- Secret, (especially) with reference to gay people who are in the closet; closeted.
- 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.
See alsoEdit
VerbEdit
closet (third-person singular simple present closets, present participle closeting, simple past and past participle closeted)
- (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.
- (transitive) To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.
- 1834-1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.
- He was to call a new legislature, to closet its members.
- 1856-1870, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada
- He had been closeted with De Quadra.
- 1834-1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.
- (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.
- 1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium, or A Review of Schools, [1]
Derived termsEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary. "closet, n."
AnagramsEdit
Old FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
closet m (oblique plural closez or closetz, nominative singular closez or closetz, nominative plural closet)
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From English (water) closet, via French (water-)closet and semi-calque German (Wasser)Klosett.
NounEdit
closet n (plural closete)
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Romanian vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
SpanishEdit
NounEdit
closet m (plural closets)
- Alternative spelling of clóset
WelshEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Alternative formsEdit
NounEdit
closet m (plural closetau)
Etymology 2Edit
Inflected form of cloi.
Alternative formsEdit
VerbEdit
closet
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. |
ReferencesEdit
- 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