closet homosexual/alcoholic etcSECRETsomeone who is a homosexual etc but who does not want to admit it 不愿公开承认的同性恋/酗酒者等
a closet communist
秘密的共产主义者
Examples from the Corpus
closet• He finally came out in 1998, after years as a closethomosexual.
closet3 verb [transitiveT]
ALONEto shut someone in a room away from other people in order to discuss something private, to be alone etc 把…引进密室会谈;把…关在小房间里
be closeted with somebody
All morning he’d been closeted with various officials.
整个上午他都在房间里和各种官员密谈。
closet yourself
Don’t let her closet herself away in her room.
别让她把自己关在房间里。
nGrammar
Closet is usually either passive or reflexive (=followed by myself/herself etc).
Examples from the Corpus
closet• Letterman closets himself with these women all day.• Tom spent most of his time closeted in his study, surrounded by his books.• Think of the many hours when the two of them are closeted in the den.• For an hour we were closeted with Colbert.• He was constantly closeted with the late King.
be closeted with somebody• For an hour we were closeted with Colbert.• He was also back to the dailypile of paperwork and would be closeted with secretaries for much of the day.
Origincloset1
(1300-1400)Old Frenchclos“enclosed place”, from Latinclausum, from clausus; → CLOSE2
(especially NAmE) ➡ see also cupboard, wardrobeADJECTIVE | VERB + CLOSET | CLOSET + VERB | CLOSET + NOUN | PREPOSITION | PHRASESADJECTIVE➤big, huge, large大壁櫥;巨大的壁櫥▸➤small, tiny小壁櫥;小巧的壁櫥➤built-in嵌入式壁櫥➤walk-in壁櫥間➤broom, coat, linen清潔間;衣櫥;(存放牀單、毛巾等的)家庭日用織品櫥櫃➤bedroom, hall, hallway卧室的/客廳的/過道的衣櫥➤storage, supply貯藏間;貯物櫃VERB + CLOSET➤close, open關閉/打開壁櫥➤lock鎖壁櫥➤raid, rummage through, search在櫥櫃中搜翻/亂翻/搜尋◇I raided Bob's closet for something to wear.我翻遍了鮑勃的衣櫃想找件衣服穿。◇He searched his closet for something to wear.他在衣櫃裏翻找衣服穿。➤clean, clean out, organize清潔/清理/整理壁櫥➤fill裝滿壁櫥CLOSET + VERB➤be filled with sth, hold sth壁櫥裝滿/裝着某物◇Her closet was filled with black clothes.她的壁櫥裏滿是黑色衣服。CLOSET + NOUN➤door櫥櫃門▸➤space櫥櫃空間◇Do you have much closet space in your new house?你的新房子有很大的壁櫥空間嗎?PREPOSITION➤in the closet在壁櫥裏◇clothes hanging in the closet掛在衣櫥裏的衣服➤from the closet從壁櫥裏◇I picked a shirt from the closet.我從衣櫥裏挑了一件襯衫。➤to the closet向櫥櫃◇He went to the closet and pulled out a suit.他走到壁櫥前,拽出一套西服。PHRASES➤be in the closet, stay in the closet (= refuse to say publicly that you are gay) (BrE, NAmE) 不公開同性戀身分▸➤come out of the closet (= say publicly that you are gay) (BrE, NAmE) 出櫃;公開同性戀身分◇More public figures are finding the courage to come out of the closet.越來越多的公眾人物開始有勇氣承認自己是同性戀了。➤a skeleton in the/sb's closet (= something shocking in your past) (BrE, NAmE) 不可告人的醜事◇They were hoping to find some skeletons in his closet.他們希望能找出他一些見不得人的醜事。