closet

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklɒzɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈklɑzɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒzɪt

closet (plural closets)

1. (obsolete) Any private area, particularly bowers in the open air.
   • c. 1370, Robert Cicyle, l. 57 f.:

     A slepe hym toke
     In hys closet.

2. (now rare) Any private or inner room, particularly:
   • Goldsmith

     a chair-lumbered closet, just twelve feet by nine

   1. (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.

   2. (archaic) A private room used for prayer or other devotions.
      • Bible (KJV), Matthew, 6:6:

        When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.

   3. (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...

   4. (archaic) The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.
3. (obsolete) A pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.
   • c. 1390, Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, §I, 934 ff.:

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

   • 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, p. 206:

     Closet, chapelle.

4. A private cabinet, particularly:
   1. (obsolete) One used to store valuables.
      • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar, Act III, Scene ii, l. 130:

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

   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. (now chiefly US) One used to store food or other household supplies: a cupboard.
      • 1799 May 17, Jane Austen, letter:

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

   4. (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:

        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.

5. (now chiefly Scotland, Ireland) Any small room or side-room, particularly:
   1. (US) One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.
   2. (obsolete) Clipping of closet of ease or later (Britain) water closet: a room containing a toilet.
6. (heraldry) An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.
   • 1572, J. Bossewell, Wks. Armorie, p. 12:

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

7. (Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.

• (place of fanciful theorization): armchair
• (furniture or shelving used for storage): See cabinet
• (room with a toilet): See Thesaurus:bathroom

• (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)

closet (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Private.
2. 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.

• out

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.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Bancroft

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

   • (Can we date this quote?) Froude

     He had been closeted with De Quadra.

3. (transitive) To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.
   • 1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium, or A Review of Schools,

     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.

• closeted
• closet oneself

• come out

• colets, telcos

clos +‎ -et.

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

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

From English (water) closet.

closet n (plural closete)

1. toilet, latrine, bathroom

• baie
• toaletă

closet m (plural closets)

1. Alternative spelling of clóset

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɔsɛt/

Borrowed from English closet.

• closed

closet m (plural closetau)

1. closet

Inflected form of cloi.

• cloet (colloquial)
• cloit (literary)

closet

1. (colloquial) second-person singular conditional of cloi

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