broom closet
6
1.0
- noun
- /brum ˈklɒzɪt/
:
armario de escobas
- After reorganizing, we found extra mops and sponges in the broom closet.
- broom closet door
- open the broom closet
Examples
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The janitor keeps all his supplies in the broom closet near the back of the building.
-
This is a broom closet.
-
The room looks like nothing but a broom closet.
Fiction book (1993) -
We were just straightening up their broom closet.
-
I hid out in the broom closet when I heard the missus come up.
Fiction book (1994) -
By the year Kennedy was shot, Andy had transformed a broom closet smelling of turpentine into the best prison library in New England.
Fiction book (1994) -
Bodansky, according to staffers, worked out of a tiny room, a converted broom closet, down the hall from Saxton's office.
Academic text (2011) -
She opened the broom closet to grab a broom and started sweeping the floor.
Synonyms
755
1.0
A small space for keeping clothes and other things
168
1.3
A piece of furniture with shelves or drawers for storing things
79
1.0
A cabinet with shelves for storing dishes or food
38
1.8
A room where people keep extra things not used every day
29
1.6
A room where you keep things you do not use often
9
2.0
A small room where people keep office and cleaning supplies
A room where people keep old or unused furniture and boxes
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small room or cupboard for storing brooms and cleaning supplies' is directly and compositionally derived from 'broom' (a cleaning tool) + 'closet' (a small storage space); a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a storage space for brooms. This noun+noun compounding is a regular, transparent pattern in English (and mirrored in many languages), so it should be clear to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Broom closet comes from the simple image of a small closet where people keep their brooms and mops. Picture a narrow space with handles sticking up behind a door—that image explains why it means 'a small room for cleaning supplies'.