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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɒzɪt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈklɑzɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒzɪt

Noun

closet (plural closets)

File:Walk In Closet - Expandable Closet Rod and Shelf.jpg

A walk-in closet in a house.

1. 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.

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

     A slepe hym toke
     In hys closet.

3. (now rare) Any private or inner room, (particularly):
   • Template:RQ:Goldsmith Haunch

     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.
      • 1611, 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.
4. (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.

5. 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. (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.

6. (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, (later, UK) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.
7. (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.

8. (Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.
9. 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
• 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-help
• closet-keeper
• closet-lucubration
• closet-meditation
• 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 closet
• earth closet
• glass closet
• in the closet
• skeleton in the 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), 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
• Greek: ντουλάπι (el) n (ntoulápi)
• Hebrew: ארון (he) (arón)
• Hindi: अलमैराह (almairāh)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 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
• Slovak: skriňa (sk) f
• Slovene: omara (sl) f
• Spanish: ropero (es) m, armario (es) m, clóset (es) m
• 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 (ʕarīn), 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
• Greek: καμαράκι (el) n (kamaráki)
• Hungarian: budoár (hu), szobácska (hu), kis szoba, kamra (hu), cella (hu), fülke (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ripostiglio (it) m
• Polish: komórka (pl) f
• Russian: чула́н (ru) m (čulán), камо́рка (ru) f (kamórka)
• Scottish Gaelic: seòmar-uaigneach m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: komorka f

• Ukrainian: комірка f (komirka)

toilet — see toilet

figurative sense

• Finnish: kaappi (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: zug (hu)

Adjective

closet (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) private
2. closeted, secret (especially with reference to gay people who are in the closet)

   He's a closet case.

See also

• out

Verb

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.
   • Template:RQ:Bancroft USA

     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, volumes (please specify |volume=I to XII), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

     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, [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.

Derived terms

• closeted
• closet oneself

See also

• come out
• come out of the closet

Anagrams

• colets, telcos

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Old French

Etymology

From clos +‎ -et.

Noun

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

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

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Portuguese

A dressing room adjoining a domestic room

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English closet.

Noun

closet m (plural closets)

1. 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^[2]:

Further reading

• Template:R:Priberam
• Template:R:Infopédia
• Template:R:Dicionário Informal

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Romanian

Etymology

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

Noun

closet n (plural closete)

1. 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

See also

• baie
• toaletă

References

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

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Spanish

Noun

closet m (plural closets)

1. Alternative spelling of clóset

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Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɔsɛt/

Etymology 1

From English closet.

Alternative forms

• closed

Noun

closet m (plural closetau)

1. closet

Etymology 2

Inflected form of cloi.

Alternative forms

• cloet (colloquial)
• cloit (literary)

Verb

closet

1. (colloquial) second-person singular conditional 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.

References

• 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