Word: closet Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /ˈklɒzɪt/, /ˈklɑzɪt/ 1. A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies. Example: A Closet full of shelves... it... should therefore be called a Cupboard rather than a Closet. Example: 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. 2. Any private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air. Labels: obsolete Example: A slepe hym toke / In hys closet. 3. Any private or inner room, (particularly) Labels: archaic Example: 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. Any private or inner room, (particularly): Labels: archaic, obsolete Example: Closet for a lady to make her redy in, chamberette. 5. Any private or inner room, (particularly): Labels: archaic Example: When thou prayest, enter into thy closet. 6. Any private or inner room, (particularly): Labels: archaic, figuratively Example: [A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […] 7. Any private or inner room, (particularly): Labels: archaic 8. A pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord. Labels: obsolete Example: Chaplayneȝ to þe chapeles chosen þe gate... / Þe lorde loutes þerto, & þe lady als, / In-to a comly closet coyntly ho entreȝ. Example: Closet, chapelle. 9. A private cabinet, (particularly): Labels: obsolete Example: But heere's a Parchment... I found it in his Closset, 'tis his Will. 10. A private cabinet, (particularly): Labels: archaic Example: Mr. Tradescant and his wife told me they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their closet of curiosities when they died. Example: The late House of Commons have... seiz'd Closets and Writings without Information. 11. A private cabinet, (particularly): Labels: figuratively Example: Went the sonne of god oute of the pryuy closet of the maydens wombe. Example: The closet can be a scary place for a gay teenager. 12. A private cabinet, (particularly): Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang, uncommon 13. A private cabinet, (particularly): Labels: Philippines, US 14. A private cabinet, (particularly): Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, obsolete 15. An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad. Example: A Closset is the halfe of the Barre, and tenne of them maie be borne in one fielde. 16. A sewer. Labels: Scotland, obsolete 17. A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity. 18. A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity. Example: 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. A compendium of knowledge, possibly from closet as a room? Labels: archaic