What is "closet"

Closet \Clos"et\, n. [OF. closet little inclosure, dim. of clos. See Close an inclosure.]

1. A small room or apartment for retirement; a room for privacy.

   A chair-lumbered closet, just twelve feet by nine.
   --Goldsmith.

   When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.
   --Matt. vi. 6.

2. A small apartment, or recess in the side of a room, for household utensils, clothing, etc.
   --Dryden.

   Closet sin, sin commited in privacy.
   --Bp. Hall.

Closet \Clos"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Closeted p. pr. & vb. n. Closeting.]

1. To shut up in, or as in, a closet; to conceal. [R.]

   Bedlam's closeted and handcuffed charge.
   --Cowper.

2. To make into a closet for a secret interview.

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

   He had been closeted with De Quadra.
   --Froude.

"shut up as in a closet" (originally usually for purposes of concealment or private consultation), 1680s, from closet (v.). Related: Closeted; closeting.

late 14c., from Old French closet "small enclosure, private room," diminutive of clos "enclosure," from Latin clausum "closed space, enclosure, confinement," from neuter past participle of claudere "to shut" (see close (v.)). In Matt. vi:6 it renders Latin cubiculum "bedchamber, bedroom," Greek tamieion "chamber, inner chamber, secret room;" thus originally in English "a private room for study or prayer." Modern sense of "small side-room for storage" is first recorded 1610s.\n

\nThe adjective is from 1680s, "private, secluded;" meaning "secret, unknown" recorded from 1952, first of alcoholism, but by 1970s used principally of homosexuality; the phrase come out of the closet "admit something openly" first recorded 1963, and lent new meanings to the word out.

1. secret. n. 1 (context chiefly US English) A piece of furniture or a cabinet in which clothes or household supplies may be stored. 2 A small private chamber. 3 A toilet; a water closet. 4 (context figuratively English) The imagined closet in idioms such as (term in the closet English) or (term skeleton in the closet English), a place to keep things hidden. v

2. 1 (context transitive English) To shut away for private discussion. 2 (context transitive English) To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation. 3 (context transitive English) To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.

1. n. a small room (or recess) or cabinet used for storage space [syn: cupboard]

2. a toilet in England [syn: water closet, W.C., loo]

3. a tall piece of furniture that provides storage space for clothes; has a door and rails or hooks for hanging clothes [syn: wardrobe, press]

4. a small private room for study or prayer

1. adj. (of information) given in confidence or in secret; "closet information"; "this arrangement must be kept confidential"; "their secret communications" [syn: closet(a), confidential, secret]

2. indulging only covertly; "a closet alcoholic"; "closet liberals" [syn: closet(a), secret]

v. confine to a small space, as for intensive work

A closet is a small, enclosed storage space, often used for clothes.

Closet may also refer to:

• Water closet, another term for a flush toilet
• Closet drama, a play intended for reading aloud to oneself inside a closet
• Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind, 1980 spoof film
• ""Closet Clown / Seat to Stardom", an episode of Rocko's Modern Life

A closet (especially in North American usage) is an enclosed space, a cabinet, or a cupboard in a house or building used for general storage or hanging or storing clothes.

Modern closets can be built into the walls of the house during construction so that they take up no apparent space in the bedroom, or they can be large, free-standing pieces of furniture designed for clothing storage, in which case they are often called wardrobes or armoires. Closets are often built under stairs, thereby using awkward space that would otherwise go unused.

In current British and Pakistan usage, a wardrobe can also be built-in, and the words "cupboard" or walk-in-wardrobe can be used to refer to a closet. In Elizabethan and Middle English, closet referred to a larger room in which a person could sit and read in private, but now refers to a small room in general. In Indian usage, a closet often refers to a toilet. This probably originated from the word water closet, which refers to a flush toilet.