Skeleton in the closet or skeleton in the cupboard is a colloquial phrase and idiom used to describe an undisclosed fact about someone which, if revealed, would damage perceptions of the person. It evokes the idea of someone having had a human corpse concealed in their home so long that all its flesh had decomposed to the bone. "Cupboard" may be used in British English instead of the American English word "closet". It is known to have been used as a phrase, at least as early as November 1816, in the monthly British journal The Eclectic Review, page 468.[1] It is listed in both the Oxford English Dictionary, and Webster's Dictionary, under the word "skeleton". The "Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary" lists it under this but also as a separate idiom. In the most derisive of usage, murder, or significant culpability in a years-old disappearance or non-understood event (a mystery), may be implied by the phrase.
skeleton, closet, skeleton, cupboard, colloquial, phrase, idiom, used, describe, undisclosed, fact, about, someone, which, revealed, would, damage, perceptions, person, evokes, idea, someone, having, human, corpse, concealed, their, home, long, that, flesh, de. Skeleton in the closet or skeleton in the cupboard is a colloquial phrase and idiom used to describe an undisclosed fact about someone which if revealed would damage perceptions of the person It evokes the idea of someone having had a human corpse concealed in their home so long that all its flesh had decomposed to the bone Cupboard may be used in British English instead of the American English word closet It is known to have been used as a phrase at least as early as November 1816 in the monthly British journal The Eclectic Review page 468 1 It is listed in both the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster s Dictionary under the word skeleton The Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary lists it under this but also as a separate idiom In the most derisive of usage murder or significant culpability in a years old disappearance or non understood event a mystery may be implied by the phrase A political cartoon by cartoonist L M Glackens criticizing the United States government portrayed here as Uncle Sam protesting the exclusion of Jews in Russia while excluding Chinese immigration domestically Skeleton coming out of a closet here the skeleton of Mirabeau coming out of a hidden closet of king Louis XVI of France in 1792 Caricature from 1792 For other uses see Skeleton in the Closet See also edit nbsp German Wikisource has original text related to this article Vernunftige Gedanken einer Hausmutter 10 Closeted describing nondisclosure of sexual or gender identity Elephant in the room an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed Nigger in the woodpile archaic means some fact of considerable importance that is not disclosed something suspicious or wrong References edit The Eclectic Review Volume 6 p 468 at Google BooksExternal links edithttp www onestopenglish com community your english phrase of the week phrase of the week to have a skeleton in the cupboard 145671 article http www phrases org uk meanings skeleton in the closet html Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Skeleton in the closet amp oldid 1120982337, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
