cabinet

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An upright, cupboardlike repository with shelves, drawers, or compartments for the safekeeping or display of objects.
2. n. Computer Science The box that houses the main components of a computer, such as the central processing unit, disk drives, and expansion slots.
3. n. A body of persons appointed by a head of state or a prime minister to head the executive departments of the government and to act as official advisers.
4. n. Archaic A small or private room set aside for a specific activity.
5. n. Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts See milk shake. See Regional Note at milk shake.
6. adj. Suitable for storage or display in a cabinet, as because of size or decorative quality.
7. adj. Of, relating to, or being a member of a governmental cabinet: cabinet matters; a cabinet minister.
8. adj. Used in the making of cabinets: teak and other heavy cabinet wood.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A little cabin; a small habitation or retreat.
2. n. A small room; a retired apartment; a closet.
3. n. A private room in which consultations are held; specifically, the closet or private apartment in which a sovereign confers with his privy council or most trusted ministers.
4. n. Hence An executive council; the select council of a sovereign or of an executive government; the collective body of ministers who direct the government of a nation or country. In Great Britain, though the executive government is vested nominally in the crown, it is practically in a committee of ministers called the cabinet, which is of comparatively modern development. Every cabinet includes the First Lord of the Treasury, who is generally chief of the ministry, or prime minister, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the five Secretaries of State, with two or more other members, at the prime minister's discretion. In the United States the cabinet is a collective popular name, not recognized by law, for the heads of the eight executive departments, namely, the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, War, the Navy, the Interior, and Agriculture, the Postmaster-General, and the Attorney-General. They are appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and are removable at the President's pleasure. They have as a body no legal functions, but by custom meet the President at stated times for consultation. The term cabinet is also sometimes applied to the executive council of a governor or of a mayor.
5. n. A meeting or session of a cabinet council.
6. n. A piece of furniture having shelves or drawers, or both, or simply cupboards inclosed with doors; especially, one of ornamental character, decorated with carving, inlaying, painting, lacquer, medallions of painted porcelain, or enamel or metal appliqués.
7. n. Any part of a building, or one or more whole buildings, set apart for the conservation of works of art, antiquities, etc.; hence, by metonymy, the collection itself: as, a mineral cabinet.
8. n. In printing, an inclosed frame for printers' cases, generally used for job-type.
9. Confidential; secret; private.
10. Relating to a cabinet; belonging to or constituting a body of ministers of state: as, a cabinet minister; a cabinet council.
11. Belonging to a private collection, private cellar, or the like, and therefore presumably of superior quality: as, cabinet wines.
12. Hence Of such size, beauty, or value as to be kept in a cabinet, or to be fitted for use in a private chamber: as, a cabinet edition of a book; a cabinet organ; a cabinet pianoforte; a cabinet picture; cabinet photographs.
13. A council held with privacy; the confidential council of a prince or an executive magistrate; a council of cabinet ministers held with privacy to deliberate upon public affairs.
14. The members of a privy council; a select number of confidential counselors; specifically, same as cabinet, I., 4.
15. To inclose in or as in a cabinet.

Wiktionary

1. n. A storage closet either separate from, or built into, a wall.
2. n. historical A size of photograph, specifically one measuring 3⅞" by 5½".
3. n. A group of advisors to a government or business entity.
4. n. politics, often capitalized In parliamentary and some other systems of government, the group of ministers responsible for creating government policy and for overseeing the departments comprising the executive branch.
5. n. archaic A small chamber or private room.
6. n. often capitalized a collection of art or ethnographic objects
7. n. dialectal, Rhode Island milkshake

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A hut; a cottage; a small house.
2. n. A small room, or retired apartment; a closet.
3. n. A private room in which consultations are held.
4. n. The advisory council of the chief executive officer of a nation; a cabinet council.
5. n. A set of drawers or a cupboard intended to contain articles of value. Hence
6. n. A decorative piece of furniture, whether open like an étagère or closed with doors. See Étagère.
7. n. Any building or room set apart for the safe keeping and exhibition of works of art, etc.; also, the collection itself.
8. adj. Suitable for a cabinet; small.
9. v. rare To inclose.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. housing for electronic instruments, as radio or television
2. n. a storage compartment for clothes and valuables; usually it has a lock
3. n. persons appointed by a head of state to head executive departments of government and act as official advisers
4. n. a piece of furniture resembling a cupboard with doors and shelves and drawers; for storage or display