Library / English Dictionary

CLOSET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small private room for study or prayer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("closet" is a kind of...):

room (an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling)

Meronyms (parts of "closet"):

shelf (a support that consists of a horizontal surface for holding objects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "closet"):

booth; cubicle; kiosk; stall (small area set off by walls for special use)

Derivation:

closet (confine to a small space, as for intensive work)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small room (or recess) or cabinet used for storage space

Synonyms:

closet; cupboard

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("closet" is a kind of...):

storage space (the area in any structure that provides space for storage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "closet"):

airing cupboard (a warm cupboard where you put newly washed clothes until they are completely dry)

broom closet (a small room for storing brooms and other cleaning equipment)

safe (a ventilated or refrigerated cupboard for securing provisions from pests)

supply closet (a closet for storing supplies)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tall piece of furniture that provides storage space for clothes; has a door and rails or hooks for hanging clothes

Synonyms:

closet; press; wardrobe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("closet" is a kind of...):

article of furniture; furniture; piece of furniture (furnishings that make a room or other area ready for occupancy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "closet"):

armoire (a large wardrobe or cabinet; originally used for storing weapons)

clothes closet; clothespress (a closet where clothes are stored)

coat closet (a closet for storing outerwear)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A toilet in Britain

Synonyms:

closet; loo; W.C.; water closet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("closet" is a kind of...):

bathroom; can; john; lav; lavatory; privy; toilet (a room or building equipped with one or more toilets)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Confine to a small space, as for intensive work

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "closet" is one way to...):

confine (prevent from leaving or from being removed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

closet (a small private room for study or prayer)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Large and cheerful-looking, and the dressing-closets so well disposed!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

If you like your present living space and want to stay there, you can do fun things to perk it up, such as buy a new couch, new rug, or desk, put up shelves, or redo your closets.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

But for my satisfaction, if you will have the goodness to ring for Mary; stay: I am sure you will have the still greater goodness of going yourself into my bedroom, and bringing me the small inlaid box which you will find on the upper shelf of the closet.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And I am sure Lucy would have done just the same by me; for a year or two back, when Martha Sharpe and I had so many secrets together, she never made any bones of hiding in a closet, or behind a chimney-board, on purpose to hear what we said.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She had even condescended to advise him to marry as soon as he could, provided he chose with discretion; and had once paid him a visit in his humble parsonage, where she had perfectly approved all the alterations he had been making, and had even vouchsafed to suggest some herself—some shelves in the closet up stairs.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

And when I brought out the baked apples from the closet, and hoped our friends would be so very obliging as to take some, 'Oh!' said he directly, 'there is nothing in the way of fruit half so good, and these are the finest-looking home-baked apples I ever saw in my life.'

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And, to the dismay of the rest of the club, Jo threw open the door of the closet, and displayed Laurie sitting on a rag bag, flushed and twinkling with suppressed laughter.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There was a light in the dressing-table, and the door of the closet, where, before going to bed, I had hung my wedding-dress and veil, stood open; I heard a rustling there.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I followed him into his room, and he began putting on his gown, and touching himself up before a little glass he had, hanging inside a closet door.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was carried, as usual, in my travelling-box, which as I have already described, was a very convenient closet, of twelve feet wide.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)