closet n.
1. the vagina, the imagery being of a ‘hiding-place’.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Covent Garden I vi: ierk.: I will tast the sweet-meats in your Ladies Closet. susan: I understand you not. ieffr.: He means you should lie under him. | |
| Whores Rhetorick 114: It is supposed, a Lady of good practice may have each day many Clients knocking at the Closet door: by which means the Stairs will be wet and the Passage slippery, by the frequency of those that come with Fee in hand, to discharge themselves. |
2. (orig. gay) a metaphorical ‘cupboard’ in which a homosexual who is unwilling to reveal his or her sexuality is seen to live; usu. in phrs. below.
 | implied in closet adj. (1) | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Alt. Eng. Dict. 🌐 closet (noun, mass) Hiding ones gayness. Term originated as ‘in the closet’, then ‘out of the closet’ to refer to acknowledging ones gayness. | |
| Workin’ It 128: Everyone knows I’m gay. I ain’t in a closet. | |
| Dirtbag, Massachusetts 194: [He] had spent his entire college career in the closet. |
In derivatives
of one who has yet to admit their homosexuality.
| ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 123: He’s a closteed gay guy. |
In phrases
1. (orig. US) to reveal one’s gay sexuality in public; thus out of the closet, having acknowledged one’s homosexuality.
| Queens’ Vernacular. | |
| Choirboys (1976) 273: Alexander Blaney came out of the closet at that time. | |
| Faggots 36: Everyone’s out of the closet. | |
| Submariners I i: I’ve come out of the closet. | |
| Alice in La-La Land (1999) 53: The urge to come out of the closet and go fagging only comes on him every so often. | |
| Guardian G2 4 Aug. 17: The TV comedienne came out of the closet. | |
| Guardian G2 29 Mar. 11: I want to give Jerry a slap and tell him to stop ironing his jeans or come out of the closet. |
2. in non-homosexual use, to reveal a hidden aspect of oneself or one’s life.
| Crusader 169: There were six [undercover anti-corruption] police officers in all: David, Serpico, Delise, and three (a captain, a lieutenant, and a detective) who have yet to come out of the closet. |
1. used of a gay man/woman who has yet to reveal their sexuality in public.
| Queens’ Vernacular. | |
| Q&A 111: So he’s in the closet. | |
| Gay (S)language. | |
| letter Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 28: The Labour MPs should be outed first [...] I’d turn the key on the Tories and leave them in the closet. | |
| (con. 1930s-40s) Boots of Leather (2014) 37: It [sic] was plenty of gay people at that time, but [...] they kept it in the closet. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Real Life 23 Jan. 4: It is easy to see how an in-the-closet gay viewer might look at Queer As Folk. | |
| Guardian 30 Dec. 🌐 There is no longer any intellectual argument to justify staying in the closet on principle. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Jamaica Observer 9 Apr. 1: Jamaica is no safer, holier, or healthier than it was decades ago when these groups (homosexuals) were further back in the closet. |
2. in secrecy, hidden away.
| Will 182: I told Dean I wasn’t sure that it’d be wise for me to ‘go into a closet,’ [...] If I disappeared all of a sudden, people would ask questions. | |
| DSUE (8th edn) 228/1: since later 1970s. | |
| q. in Firestone Swing, Swing, Swing (1993) 329: ‘The band had a number of youngsters [...] who carried Charlie Parker records with them on the road and practiced playing bebop together in the closet very secretly. |
to reveal someone to be a homosexual, usu. against their will.
| Queens’ Vernacular 160: to expose a fellow homosexual to his straight friends [...] open the closet. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(W.I.) a sanitary inspector.
| cited in Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980). | |
| Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage. |
In phrases
a lavatory or water closet.
| Principles of Magnificent Building 27: A Closet of ease [OED]. |