different between closet vs dressing

English

Etymology

From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) +? -et (“forming diminutives”), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close +? -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kl?z?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?kl?z?t/
• Rhymes: -?z?t

Noun

closet (plural closets)

1. One used to store food or other household supplies: a cupboard.
   1. • 1799 May 17, Jane Austen, letter:

        A Closet full of shelves... it... should therefore be called a Cupboard rather than a Closet.

2. (obsolete) Any private area, (particularly) bowers in the open air.
   • c. 1370, Robert Cicyle, l. 57 f.:

     A slepe hym toke
     In hys closet.

3. (now rare) Any private or inner room, (particularly):
   • 1776, Oliver Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare

     a chair-lumbered closet, just twelve feet by nine

   1. (obsolete) A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.
      • 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, p. 206:

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

   2. (archaic) A private room used for prayer or other devotions.
      • 1611, Bible (KJV), Matthew, 6:6:

        When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.

   3. (figuratively, archaic) A place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.
      • a. 1600, Robert Hooker, Of Lawes Eccl. and Politie, Ch. vii, § 24:

        ...abroad and at home, at their Tables or in their Closets...

   4. (archaic) The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.
4. (obsolete) A pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.
   • c. 1390, Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, §I, 934 ff.:

     Chaplayne? to þe chapeles chosen þe gate...
     Þe lorde loutes þerto, & þe lady als,
     In-to a comly closet coyntly ho entre?.

   • 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, p. 206:

     Closet, chapelle.

5. A private cabinet, (particularly):
   1. (obsolete) One used to store valuables.
      • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar, Act III, Scene ii, l. 130:

        But heere's a Parchment... I found it in his Closset, 'tis his Will.

   2. (archaic) One used to store curiosities.
      • 1659, Elias Ashmole, Diary, p. 326:

        Mr. Tradescant and his wife told me they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their closet of curiosities when they died.

      • 1681, Marquis of Halifax, Seasonable Addresses to the Houses of Parliament in Concise Succession, p. 10:

        The late House of Commons have... seiz'd Closets and Writings without Information.

   3. (figuratively) A secret or hiding place, (particularly) the hiding place in English idioms such as in the closet and skeleton in the closet.
      • 1530, Myroure of Oure Ladye, Ch. ii, p. 233:

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

      The closet can be a scary place for a gay teenager.

      He's so far in the closet, he can see Narnia.

6. (now chiefly Scotland, Ireland) Any small room or side-room, (particularly):
   1. (US) One intended for storing clothes or bedclothes.
   2. (obsolete) Clipping of closet of ease, (later, Britain) clipping of water closet: a room containing a toilet.
7. (heraldry) An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.
   • 1572, J. Bossewell, Wks. Armorie, p. 12:

     A Closset is the halfe of the Barre, and tenne of them maie be borne in one fielde.

8. (Scotland, obsolete) A sewer.
9. A state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.

Synonyms

• (place of fanciful theorization): armchair
• (furniture or shelving used for storage): See cabinet
• (room with a toilet): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Hyponyms

• (A small closet with built-in lock): locker
• (A small room used for storage): walk-in closet, storage room
• (A storage area set into a wall, used for storing food or dishware): cupboard, pantry, larder, cabinet
• (A piece of furniture, used for storing clothes): wardrobe, armoire, press (Irish & Scots)
• (A piece of furniture, used for storing food or dishware): cupboard, sideboard, cabinet, press (Irish & Scots), wardrobe (UK)

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Czech: klozet
• ? Spanish: clóset
• ? Welsh: closet

Translations

Adjective

closet (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Private.
2. Secret, (especially) with reference to gay people who are in the closet; closeted.

   He's a closet case.

See also

• out

Verb

closet (third-person singular simple present closets, present participle closeting, simple past and past participle closeted)

1. (transitive) To shut away for private discussion.

   The ambassador has been closeted with the prime minister all afternoon. We're all worried what will be announced when they exit.

2. (transitive) To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.
   • 1834-1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.

     He was to call a new legislature, to closet its members.

   • 1856-1870, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada

     He had been closeted with De Quadra.

3. (transitive) To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.
   • 1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium, or A Review of Schools, [1]

     See what contempt is fallen on human kind; […] See Bedlam's closeted and handcuff'd charge / Surpass'd in frenzy by the mad at large;

   • 1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, p. 55,

     […] she had to look twice over her shoulder when the Gay Northeasters and the City Belles strolled down Seventh Avenue, they were so handsome. But this envy-streaked pleasure Alice closeted, and never let the girl see how she admired those ready-for-bed-in-the-street clothes.

Derived terms

• closeted
• closet oneself

See also

• come out

References

Anagrams

• colets, telcos

Old French

Etymology

clos +? -et.

Noun

closet m (oblique plural closez or closetz, nominative singular closez or closetz, nominative plural closet)

1. small enclosed area, such as a field or a paddock

Romanian

Etymology

From English (water) closet, via French (water-)closet and semi-calque German (Wasser)Klosett.

Noun

closet n (plural closete)

1. toilet, latrine, bathroom

See also

• baie
• toalet?

References

• Romanian vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Spanish

Noun

closet m (plural closets)

1. Alternative spelling of clóset

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kl?s?t/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English closet.

Alternative forms

• closed

Noun

closet m (plural closetau)

1. closet

Etymology 2

Inflected form of cloi.

Alternative forms

• cloet (colloquial)
• cloit (literary)

Verb

closet

1. (colloquial) second-person singular conditional of cloi

Mutation

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “closet”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??s??/
• Rhymes: -?s??

Etymology 1

From Middle English dressing, dressinge, dressynge, equivalent to dress +? -ing.

Noun

dressing (countable and uncountable, plural dressings)

1. (medicine) Material applied to a wound for protection or therapy.
2. A sauce, especially a cold one for salads.
3. Something added to the soil as a fertilizer etc.
4. The activity of getting dressed.
   • 2004, Kathryn Banks, Joseph Harris, Exposure: Revealing Bodies, Unveiling Representations (page 182)

     Considered thus, the performance is a translation into images of bodies on display, as is well demonstrated by Monsieur Jourdain's repeated dressings and undressings.

5. (obsolete) Dress; raiment; especially, ornamental habiliment or attire.
   • 1609, Ben Jonson, Epicœne, or The Silent Woman

     Women ought to repair the losses , time and years have made in their features, with dressings

6. The stuffing of fowls, pigs, etc.; forcemeat.
7. Gum, starch, etc., used in stiffening or finishing silk, linen, and other fabrics.
8. An ornamental finish, such as a moulding around doors, windows, or on a ceiling.
9. (dated) Castigation; scolding; a dressing down.
10. (dated) the process of extracting metals or other valuable components from minerals

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dressynge, dressande, equivalent to dress +? -ing.

Verb

dressing

1. present participle of dress

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English dressing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dr?.s??/
• Hyphenation: dres?sing
• Rhymes: -?s??

Noun

dressing m (plural dressings, diminutive dressinkje n)

1. A dressing, a cold sauce for salads.

See also

• slasaus

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??.si?/

Noun

dressing m (plural dressings)

1. wardrobe
2. dressing room (small walk-in room off a bedroom)

Middle English

Noun

dressing

1. Alternative form of dressynge

Polish

Etymology

From English dressing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dr?.sink/

Noun

dressing m inan

1. dressing (sauce, especially a cold one for salads)

Declension

Further reading

• dressing in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• dressing in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dresi?/

Noun

dressing c

1. dressing, a kind of sauce.

Declension