closet

See also: clóset

English

Etymology

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]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklɒzɪt/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈklɑzɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɒzɪt

Noun

closet (plural closets)

A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.
- 1799 May 17, Jane Austen, letter:
  A Closet full of shelves... it... should therefore be called a Cupboard rather than a Closet.
(obsolete) Any private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air.
- c. 1370, Robert Cicyle, l. 57 f.:
  A slepe hym toke / In hys closet.
(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 642442894, 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.
  - 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.
  - Template:RQ:Matthew
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 931154958, (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.
(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.
A private cabinet, (particularly):
1. (obsolete) One used to store valuables.
  - 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii], line 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. (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.
4. (slang, uncommon) Clipping of closet case.
(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.
(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.
(Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.
A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.

Synonyms

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

Hyponyms

(small closet with built-in lock): locker
(small room used for storage): walk-in closet, storage room
(storage area set into a wall, used for storing food or dishware): cupboard, pantry, larder, cabinet
(piece of furniture, used for storing clothes): wardrobe, armoire, press (Irish & Scots)
(piece of furniture, used for storing food or dishware): cupboard, sideboard, cabinet, press (Irish & Scots), wardrobe (UK)

Derived terms

bed-closet
broom closet
cedar closet
chemical closet
Clerk of the Closet
clerk of the closet
closet audit
closet auger
closet-candlestick
closet candlestick
closet case
closet-chapel
closet-chaplain
closet-devotion
closet-door
closet drama
closet-draught
closet-help
closet index
closet-keeper
closet-lucubration
closet-meditation
closet of decency
closet of ease
closet of the heart
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 broom closet
come out of the closet
dry closet
earth closet
Fibber McGee's closet
food closet
glass closet
hide in the closet
hot closet
in the closet
linen closet
skeleton in the closet
spear closet
water-closet
water closet
WC

Descendants

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

Translations

furniture

Arabic: خِزَانَة‎ f (ḵizāna)
Gulf Arabic: كبت‎ m (kabat)
Armenian: պահարան (hy) (paharan)
Azerbaijani: dolab, şkaf
Belarusian: ша́фа f (šáfa)
Bulgarian: стенен гардероб (stenen garderob), килер m (kiler), шкаф (bg) m (škaf), гардеро́б (bg) m (garderób)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 壁櫥／壁橱 (zh) (bìchú)
Czech: skříň (cs)
Danish: skab (da) n
Dutch: kast (nl) m or f
Esperanto: ŝranko
Faroese: skáp n
Finnish: kaappi (fi), komero (fi)
French: placard (fr) m
Georgian: კარადა (ḳarada)
German: Schrank (de) m, Wandschrank m
Greek: ντουλάπι (el) n (doulápi)
Hebrew: ארון‎ (he) (arón)
Hindi: अलमैराह (almairāh)
Hungarian: beépített szekrény (hu), faliszekrény, gardrób (hu), gardróbszekrény, járható ruhásszekrény
Icelandic: skápur (is)
Italian: armadio (it) m, ripostiglio (it) m
Japanese: クローゼット (ja) (kurozetto), 押入 (oshiire), 収納庫 (shūnōko)
Kazakh: шкаф (kk) (şkaf)
Korean: 옷장 (ko) (otjang)
Latin: armarium (la) n
Persian: کمد‎ (fa) (komod), اشکاف‎ (fa) (eškâf)
Polish: szafa (pl) f
Portuguese: guarda-roupas (pt) m, armário (pt) m
Russian: шкаф (ru) m (škaf)
Serbo-Croatian: ormar (sh) m
Sicilian: muarra f
Slovak: skriňa (sk) f
Slovene: omara (sl) f
Spanish: ropero (es) m, armario (es) m, clóset (es) m
Swedish: skåp (sv) n, garderob (sv) c
Turkish: dolap (tr)
Ukrainian: ша́фа f (šáfa)
Walloon: calbote f, årmå (wa) m, årmwere (wa) f
West Flemish: kasse f
Yiddish: אַלמער‎ m (almer), שאַנק‎ f (shank), שאַפֿע‎ f (shafe)

small private chamber

Arabic: عَرِين‎ m (ʿarīn), حُجْرَة‎ f (ḥujra), مِحْرَاب‎ m (miḥrāb), قَيْطُون‎ m (qayṭūn)
Bulgarian: кабинет (bg) m (kabinet)
Finnish: kamari (fi), koppi (fi)
German: Kammer (de) f, Abstellkammer (de) f, Ankleide f, Käfter n, Kamurke f, Kabinett (de) n, Kämmerchen (de) n, Alkoven (de) m, Geheimzimmer n
Greek: καμαράκι (el) n (kamaráki)
Hungarian: budoár (hu), szobácska (hu), kis szoba, kamra (hu), cella (hu), fülke (hu)
Italian: ripostiglio (it) m
Polish: komórka (pl) f
Russian: чула́н (ru) m (čulán), камо́рка (ru) f (kamórka)
Scottish Gaelic: seòmar-uaigneach m
Sicilian: ripustigghiu m
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: komorka f
Ukrainian: комірка f (komirka)

toilet — see toilet

figurative sense

Finnish: kaappi (fi)
German: Geheim-
Hungarian: zug (hu)

Adjective

closet (not comparable)

(obsolete) private
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.
Denoting anything kept a secret or private.

Verb

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 Death of Elizabeth, volume (please specify |volume=I to XII), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., OCLC 5837766:
  He had been closeted with De Quadra.
(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.

Derived terms

closeted
closet oneself

References

Oxford English Dictionary. "closet, n."

Anagrams

colets, telcos

Old French

Etymology

From clos +‎ -et.

Noun

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

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

Portuguese

A dressing room adjoining a domestic room

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English closet.

Noun

closet m (plural closets)

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:

Romanian

Etymology

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

Noun

closet n (plural closete)

toilet, latrine, bathroom

Declension

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

References

Romanian vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Spanish

Noun

closet m (plural closets)

Alternative spelling of clóset

Welsh

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈklɔsɛt/

Etymology 1

From English closet.

Alternative forms

closed

Noun

closet m (plural closetau)

closet

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Alternative forms

cloet (colloquial)
cloit (literary)

Verb

closet

second-person singular conditional colloquial of cloi

Mutation

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.

[1] Oxford English Dictionary. "closet, n."

closet

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Adjective

See also

Verb

Derived terms

See also

References

Anagrams

Old French

Etymology

Noun

Portuguese

Etymology

Noun

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

See also

References

Spanish

Noun

Welsh

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Noun

Further reading

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Verb

Mutation