cabinet
pronunciation
How to pronounce cabinet in British English:
UK [ˈkæbɪnət]
How to pronounce cabinet in American English:
US [ˈkæbɪnət]
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- Noun:
- a cupboard-like repository or piece of furniture with doors and shelves and drawers; for storage or display
- persons appointed by a head of state to head executive departments of government and act as official advisers
- a storage compartment for clothes and valuables; usually it has a lock
- housing for electronic instruments, as radio or television
Word Origin
- cabinet (n.)
- 1540s, "secret storehouse, treasure chamber," from Middle French cabinet "small room" (16c.), diminutive of Old French cabane "cabin" (see cabin); perhaps influenced by (or rather, from) Italian gabbinetto, diminutive of gabbia, from Latin cavea "stall, stoop, cage, den for animals" (see cave (n.)). Meaning "case for safe-keeping" (of papers, liquor, etc.) is from 1540s, gradually shading to mean a piece of furniture that does this. Sense of "private room where advisors meet" (c. 1600) led to modern political meaning (1640s); perhaps originally short for cabinet council (1630s); compare board (n.1) in its evolution from place where some group meets to the word for the group that meets there.
Example
- 1. He resigned from the cabinet in june .
- 2. Six members of the papademos cabinet have already resigned .
- 3. She then rifles through the medicine cabinet and takes something .
- 4. One cabinet is devoted entirely to thai coconut milk .
- 5. She 'd open a drawer or reach into a kitchen cabinet and find a hidden note .