closet

noun

1. 1

   A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.

   A Closet full of shelves... it... should therefore be called a Cupboard rather than a Closet.

   She came in now, but to the closet; from it she took a simple skirt and blouse. Picking up her underclothing she departed, obviously to dress somewhere else.

2. 2

   obsoleteAny private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air.

   A slepe hym toke / In hys closet.

3. 3

   archaicAny private or inner room, (particularly)

   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: […]

4. 4

   archaicAny private or inner room, (particularly): A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.

   Closet for a lady to make her redy in, chamberette.

5. 5

   archaicAny private or inner room, (particularly): A private room used for prayer or other devotions.

   When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.

6. 6

   archaicAny private or inner room, (particularly): A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.

   [A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […]

7. 7

   archaicAny private or inner room, (particularly): The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.

8. 8

   obsoleteA pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.

   Chaplayneȝ to þe chapeles chosen þe gate... / Þe lorde loutes þerto, & þe lady als, / In-to a comly closet coyntly ho entreȝ.

   Closet, chapelle.

9. 9

   obsoleteA private cabinet, (particularly): One used to store valuables.

   But heere's a Parchment... I found it in his Closset, 'tis his Will.

10. 10

    archaicA private cabinet, (particularly): One used to store curiosities.

    Mr. Tradescant and his wife told me they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their closet of curiosities when they died.

    The late House of Commons have... seiz'd Closets and Writings without Information.

11. 11

    figurativeA private cabinet, (particularly): A secret or hiding place, (particularly) the hiding place in English idioms such as in the closet and skeleton in the closet.

    Went the sonne of god oute of the pryuy closet of the maydens wombe.

    The closet can be a scary place for a gay teenager.

    He's so far in the closet, he can see Narnia.

12. 12

    A private cabinet, (particularly): One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.

13. 13

    An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.

    A Closset is the halfe of the Barre, and tenne of them maie be borne in one fielde.

14. 14

    obsoleteA sewer.

15. 15

    A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.

16. 16

    A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity. The state of having one's sexual orientation a secret.

    6 o'clock TV news specials concerning a famous Hollywood movie star who has been diagnosed with [AIDS]. It had to happen sooner or later. (In fact it probably has happened sooner, but the tenor of the times and the closets of the people were no doubt more secure.)

17. 17

    archaicA compendium of knowledge, possibly from closet as a room?

    [object Object]

    [object Object]

18. 18

    Variant of closet caseslangA private cabinet, (particularly): Clipping of closet case.

19. 19

    Variant of closet of easeobsoleteA private cabinet, (particularly): Clipping of closet of ease, (later, UK) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.

adjective

1. 1

   obsoletePrivate.

2. 2

   Closeted, secret (especially with reference to gay people who are in the closet).

   He's a closet case.

   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. 3

   Denoting anything kept a secret or private.

verb

1. 1

   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. 2

   To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.

   He was to call a new legislature, to closet its members.

   He had been closeted with De Quadra.

3. 3

   To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.

   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;

   […] 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.

Forms

plural

closets

past tense

closeted

past participle

closeted

present participle

closeting

third person singular

closets