Definition of "closet"

A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.  quotations  examples

(obsolete) Any private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air.  quotations

(now rare) Any private or inner room, (particularly):  quotations

1. (obsolete) A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Closet for a lady to make her redy in, chamberette.

     1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, page 206

2. (archaic) A private room used for prayer or other devotions.  quotations

   Quotations

   • When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 6:6

3. (figuratively, archaic) A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.  quotations

   Quotations

   • [A]broad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets […]

     1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, (please specify the page)

4. (archaic) The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.

(obsolete) A pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.  quotations

A private cabinet, (particularly):

1. (obsolete) One used to store valuables.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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, [Act III, scene ii], line 130

2. (archaic) One used to store curiosities.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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

3. (figuratively) A secret or hiding place, (particularly) the hiding place in English idioms such as in the closet and skeleton in the closet.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Went the sonne of god oute of the pryuy closet of the maydens wombe.

     1530, chapter II, in Myroure of Oure Ladye, page 233

4. (slang, uncommon) Clipping of closet case.

(now chiefly Scotland, Ireland) Any small room or side-room, (particularly):

1. (US, Philippines) One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.  examples

2. (obsolete) Clipping of closet of ease, (later, UK) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.

(heraldry) An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.  quotations  examples

(Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.

A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.  examples

(obsolete) Private.

Closeted, secret (especially with reference to gay people who are in the closet).  quotations  examples

Denoting anything kept a secret or private.  examples

(transitive) To shut away for private discussion.  examples

(transitive) To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.  quotations  examples