closet, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

closet adj.

also closeted, closety

1. of being homosexual, secret, clandestine, hidden.

1961		A. Reiss in Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process (1969) 994: In the organized ‘gay world,’ they are known as ‘closet fags’.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 48: closeted [in the closet] refusing to associate with known gays for fear of being discovered.
1977		B. Grier ‘Neither Prophet nor Salvation’ in Jay & Young (1979) 417: They have a number of closeted gay friends like themselves.
1982		A. Maupin Further Tales of the City (1984) 40: It must’ve been a bitch, staying closeted all these years.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 195: All of you secret servers and closet folk.
1988		(ref. to 1960) in Walking After Midnight (1989) 87: Usually, if you met somebody who was gay and butch, they were very uptight, closety types.
1992		D. Jarman letter 22 Mar. Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 102: The Times was pushing me to say I thought all closeted stars should be Outed.
1993		K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 186: Oh yes. Closet gay. I should have guessed when he got into bed with the jar of Vaseline.
1999		Indep. 19 July 9: Their officious madam, Paul, has a boyfriend who’s a closeted England under-21 footballer.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Jungletown Jihad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 352: He humps homos. They’re closet clowns in deep cover.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 131: ‘[H]e’s probably a closet bender himself, all teachers are, benders or paedos’.

2. in non-homosexual contexts.

1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 111: Because I like country music so much, Puddin calls me his ‘closet red neck’ .
1974		C. Loken Come Monday Morning 144: Be a closet drinker? Lay out in your barn dead ass drunk two-three days atta time?
1985		D. Tutu N.Y. Times 29 Oct. n.p.: I just think we are seeing closet racism coming out into the open [R].
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 53: He was a middle-aged closet pervert [i.e. a transvestite] from over in the Valley.
1997		Mad mag. Apr. 7: For all I know she may have been a closet bondage freak and got turned on by the abuse.
1999		J. Poller Reach 40: I’m obviously a closet straight.
2012		Jamaica Star 18 May 🌐 The Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse [...] plans to release the names of [...] people who are closet predators.

In derivatives

closetry (n.)

(gay) the hiding of one’s real sexuality by a homosexual.

1979

J. Rechy Rushes (1981) 117: Well fuckeroo if that wasn’t a tribute to closetry.

In compounds

closet-case (n.)

1. (US campus) a socially inept, unattractive person; a hard worker.

1946		Wash. Post 7 Oct. 5/2: Unattractive girls are ‘strictly closet cases’, meaning they should be in the closet when men are around.
1958		J. Davis College Vocab. 6: Closet case – An unattractive person whom you would like to hide.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 97: Closet case A person who studies a great deal.
1978		Ramis, Kenney & Miller Animal House [film script] flounder He said legacies usually get asked to pledge automatically. otter [...] Unless the pledge in question turns out to be a real closet-case.

2. (gay) a homosexual who finds it difficult or impossible to admit their sexuality in public.

1964		‘R. Blake’ Amer. Dict. Sexual Terms.
1966		B. Stone I’m for Hire 103: Nancy is a closet dyke. Lots of whores are.
1969		S. Harris Puritan Jungle 191: They’re what we call ‘closet cases’, hiding and scared to death of exposure.
1977		J. Jackman ‘Ports O Call’ in Fag Rag (Boston) Spring No. 19 in Jay & Young (1979) 153: All the wealthy closet cases were finally admitting it by being seen within.
1979		Devil’s Hand Maiden 207: ‘Women have a hundred more things on the ball than men.’ — But can’t you have both?’ — ‘Sure, get married and be a closet dyke.’.
1980		G. Chapman Lair’s Autobiog. 88: Fortunately the Board of Governors was not composed of closet-dykes [Simes:DLSS].
1981		V. Russo Celluloid Closet 238: The only gay in the film are a lesbian pimp, a black pimp, a murderer and a closet case who hates women and has his wife beaten while he watches [Simes:DLSS].
1983		C. James Brilliant Creatures 247: ‘You’re a closet dike. You have been all along’ [Simes:DLSS].
1988		J. Beadle Death Scene 167: ‘Guy was rather obsessed with the idea that everyone was a closet case, actually’ [Simes:DLSS].
1993		R. Hughes Culture of Complaint 114: [T]ough luck for snobbish Proust and depressive Leopardi, for Henry James the closet case and Montaigne the son of bourgeois privilege.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 203: A repressed, inadequate closet case like him must be drooling at the prospect of checking out all that meat.
1999		J.M. Saslow Pictures & Passions 244: J. Edgar Hoover, the federal police chief, was himself a closet case [Simes:DLSS].
2001		T. Fontana ‘Medium Rare’ Oz ser. 4 ep. 9 [TV script] Eldridge is actually a fagoot [...] one of them closet cases.
2014		B. Koeler ‘Be My Alibi’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] Confused straight boys, closet cases.

closet-queen (n.) (also closet queer) [queen n. (2)/queer n. (6); James, America’s Homosexual Underground (1965), offers a link to (water) closet and suggests that the closet queen is one who dares not have sex at home, preferring the anonymity of public lavatories, bathhouses, parks etc]

(gay) a homosexual who finds it difficult to admit his sexuality.

1958		A. Aldrich We Too Must Love 122: Among male homosexuals, he is considered a ‘closet queen’, one who shys [sic] from overt homosexuals in public [Simes:DLSS].
1962		D. Powell Golden Spur (1991) 151: I never could figure out why you picked me when the other boys were so much prettier but I suppose a closet queen has to pick the mutt type like yours truly to kep off suspicion.
1964		A. Baraka Slave in Three Negro Plays (1969) Act II: You and that closet queen, respected, weak-as-water intellectual, pitying me. God. God!
1970		Harper’s Mag. Sept. 39: ‘Hell, he’s one of those tough fags,’ would be the answer [...]. ‘A closet queer, obviously.’.
1972		E. Newton Mother Camp 21: Homosexuals who participate in gay life with extreme discretion are sometimes referred to as ‘closet queens’ [Simes:DLSS].
1977		G. Melly Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 68: My closet queen made no effort to arrange another meeting.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 89: It was a typical queen murder [...] A closet queen cut his lover to pieces.
1985		Tracks (Aus.) May 3: What sort of silly idiot... would call R J Kegg a closet queer .... At least he took one of the doughnut makers [i.e., a sodomist] out with an elbow in the mouth.
1990		J. Beadle Doing Business 74: ‘He was unmarried, no real friends, maybe even a closet queen’.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 61: Undercover Fag also Closet Queen A man who tries to keep his homosexuality a secret from the majority of the prison population.
1997		(con. 1960s) A. Frewin London Blues 110: One thing I’ve always noticed about homosexuals, particularly closet queers, is this eye movement thing.
1999		J. Ellroy ‘My Life as a Creep’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 128: Middle-aged closet queens with wedding rings and sheepish expressions. Devotees of Cock It to Me and For Those Who Think Hung.
2003		K. Cage Gayle.
2010		W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 65: Queen is often preceded by a noun or adjective that indicates a place of residence, character or preference. Indicative of this are terms like [...] closet queen (one who hides his homosexuality).
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 151: A booze-hound bachelor and a cloistered closet queen. He juiced at the Raincheck Room.