closets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of closet.

   The old house had narrow closets tucked beneath the staircase.

   Designers fitted the bedrooms with walk-in closets and built-in shelving.

   Note

   In older writing the plural can name something other than storage. A house's closets were once its private inner rooms, such as a lady's dressing room or a chamber kept for prayer, and figuratively a place of fanciful theorizing. The cupboard-like room for clothes and supplies is the everyday modern meaning. The same spelling also serves as the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of closet.

   Every afternoon the director closets herself with her advisers to plan the next move.

   The committee closets the sensitive files away until the inquiry concludes.

   Note

   A verb that always takes an object: someone closets another person, or closets themselves. Used reflexively with "with," it describes withdrawing for a confidential talk, as in "she closets herself with her lawyers." With an ordinary object it ranges from a private interview or interrogation to plain confinement or concealment, such as files or a prisoner shut away out of sight.

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