cabinet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A piece of furniture with shelves or drawers for storing or showing things.

   She keeps her best dishes in a glass cabinet.

2. 2
   noun

   The group of senior ministers who decide government policy.

   The prime minister discussed the plan with his cabinet.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cabinet originally meant a “little cabin” or small private room, especially one used to display works of art and similar objects. The furniture sense developed from this, while the 17th-century political sense arose because a monarch’s confidential advisers met in such a private room and the room’s name was transferred to the group.

From cabin + -et, influenced by French cabinet. In sense of “a government group”, compare salon, also named for a room used to gather.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary