closet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small enclosed storage room; to shut away in private

   He kept his old letters locked in a hall closet.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Closet originally denoted a small private room used for activities such as study or prayer. It comes from Middle English close, ultimately from Latin claudere, “to shut.” The room’s privacy gave rise by the early 17th century to associations with concealment and secrecy; the expression in the closet for hiding one’s homosexuality dates from the late 1960s.

From Middle English, from Old French closet 'small enclosure', a diminutive of clos 'enclosure', from Latin clausum 'enclosed space', from claudere 'to shut'.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary