closet

noun closets

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.
2. obsolete Any private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air. A slepe hym toke / In hys closet.
3. archaic Any 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. archaic, obsolete A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves. Closet for a lady to make her redy in, chamberette.
5. archaic A private room used for prayer or other devotions. When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.
6. archaic, figuratively A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing. [A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […]
7. archaic The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.
8. obsolete A 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.
9. obsolete One used to store valuables. But heere's a Parchment... I found it in his Closset, 'tis his Will.
10. archaic 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.
11. figuratively 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.
12. abbreviation, clipping, slang, uncommon Clipping of closet case.closet case
13. Philippines, US One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.
14. abbreviation, clipping, obsolete Clipping of closet of ease, (later, UK) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.closet of ease
15. 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.
16. Scotland, obsolete A sewer.
17. A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.
18. 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.)
19. archaic A compendium of knowledge, possibly from closet as a room?

Similar: cabinet

adjective

1. not comparable, obsolete Private.
2. not comparable Closeted, secret (especially with reference to gay people who are in the closet). He's a closet case.
3. not comparable Denoting anything kept a secret or private.

verb closets · closeting · 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. He was to call a new legislature, to closet its members.
3. transitive 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;