Etymology From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) + -et (diminutive suffix), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close + -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.
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.1799 May 17, Jane Austen, letter
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.1964, Philip K. Dick, “NINE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 112:
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Obsolete Any private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air.
A slepe hym toke / In hys closet.c. 1370, Robert Cicyle, l. 57 f:
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: […]1765, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: […] W. Whitestone, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 9:
› Any private or inner room, (particularly):
4
Archaic, Obsolete A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.
Closet for a lady to make her redy in, chamberette.1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, page 206:
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Archaic A private room used for prayer or other devotions.
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:6:
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Archaic, Figuratively A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.
[A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […][1594], Richard Hooker, chapter 24, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
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Archaic The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.
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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.c. 1390, Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, §I, 934 ff.
Closet, chapelle.1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, page 206:
But heere's a Parchment... I found it in his Closset, 'tis his Will.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, [Act III, scene ii], line 130:
Mr. Tradescant and his wife told me they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their closet of curiosities when they died.1659, Elias Ashmole, Diary, page 326:
The late House of Commons have... seiz'd Closets and Writings without Information.1681, Marquis of Halifax, Seasonable Addresses to the Houses of Parliament in Concise Succession, page 10:
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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.1530, chapter II, in Myroure of Oure Ladye, page 233:
The closet can be a scary place for a gay teenager.
A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.
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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.)1985 August 24, Michael Bronski, “Rock Hudson: The Great Gay Hope”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 7, page 15:
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Archaic A compendium of knowledge, possibly from closet as a room?
Etymology From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) + -et (diminutive suffix), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close + -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.
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.1940, Walton Hall Smith with Ferdinand Christian Helwig, Liquor, the servant of man:
Etymology From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) + -et (diminutive suffix), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close + -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.
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
To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.
He was to call a new legislature, to closet its members.1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:
He had been closeted with De Quadra.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:
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;1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium, or A Review of Schools:
[…] 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.1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, page 55: