"come out of the broom closet" meaning in English

See come out of the broom closet in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: comes out of the broom closet [present, singular, third-person], coming out of the broom closet [participle, present], come out of the broom closet [participle, past], come out of the broom closet [past]
Etymology: Coined by analogy with come out of the closet, with the proverbial hiding place being changed to a broom closet, a jocular reference to stereotype of witches riding brooms. Head templates: {{en-verb|come<,,come> out of the broom closet|head=come out of the broom closet}} come out of the broom closet (third-person singular simple present comes out of the broom closet, present participle coming out of the broom closet, simple past and past participle come out of the broom closet)
  1. (idiomatic) To publicly reveal that one is a Wiccan or some other type of neopagan. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): Occult, Paganism, Wicca
    Sense id: en-come_out_of_the_broom_closet-en-verb-L1ERJJRX Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Coined by analogy with come out of the closet, with the proverbial hiding place being changed to a broom closet, a jocular reference to stereotype of witches riding brooms.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "comes out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coming out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "come<,,come> out of the broom closet",
        "head": "come out of the broom closet"
      },
      "expansion": "come out of the broom closet (third-person singular simple present comes out of the broom closet, present participle coming out of the broom closet, simple past and past participle come out of the broom closet)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Occult",
          "orig": "en:Occult",
          "parents": [
            "Forteana",
            "Supernatural",
            "Pseudoscience",
            "Folklore",
            "Sciences",
            "Culture",
            "All topics",
            "Society",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Paganism",
          "orig": "en:Paganism",
          "parents": [
            "Occult",
            "Religion",
            "Forteana",
            "Supernatural",
            "Culture",
            "Pseudoscience",
            "Folklore",
            "Society",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Wicca",
          "orig": "en:Wicca",
          "parents": [
            "Paganism",
            "Religion",
            "Occult",
            "Culture",
            "Forteana",
            "Supernatural",
            "Society",
            "Pseudoscience",
            "Folklore",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Douglas E. Cowan, Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet, page 36:",
          "text": "Second, despite constitutional guarantees of religions freedom and practice, and despite the rhetoric of tolerance with which religion in American society is cloaked, \"coming out of the broom closet\" and declaring oneself Wiccan or Witch remains a very risky act for many people, precisely because of the different cultures in which they reside.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Denise Zimmerman, Katherine Gleason, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, unnumbered page:",
          "text": "In 1986, a federal appeals court ruled that Wicca is a legal religion. That means that the practice of Wicca is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Ever since the ruling, more and more Wiccans have \"come out of the broom closet.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, “Junior Crone”, in Arin Murphy-Hiscock, editor, Out of the Broom Closet: 50 True Stories of Witches Who Found and Embraced the Craft, unnumbered page:",
          "text": "I cannot claim that I ever came out of the broom closet, because I didn't even know that I had the option of hiding in said closet when I began to self-identify as a Pagan at the age of seventeen.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To publicly reveal that one is a Wiccan or some other type of neopagan."
      ],
      "id": "en-come_out_of_the_broom_closet-en-verb-L1ERJJRX",
      "links": [
        [
          "Wiccan",
          "Wiccan"
        ],
        [
          "neopagan",
          "neopagan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To publicly reveal that one is a Wiccan or some other type of neopagan."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "come out of the broom closet"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Coined by analogy with come out of the closet, with the proverbial hiding place being changed to a broom closet, a jocular reference to stereotype of witches riding brooms.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "comes out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coming out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come out of the broom closet",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "come<,,come> out of the broom closet",
        "head": "come out of the broom closet"
      },
      "expansion": "come out of the broom closet (third-person singular simple present comes out of the broom closet, present participle coming out of the broom closet, simple past and past participle come out of the broom closet)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Occult",
        "en:Paganism",
        "en:Wicca"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Douglas E. Cowan, Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet, page 36:",
          "text": "Second, despite constitutional guarantees of religions freedom and practice, and despite the rhetoric of tolerance with which religion in American society is cloaked, \"coming out of the broom closet\" and declaring oneself Wiccan or Witch remains a very risky act for many people, precisely because of the different cultures in which they reside.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Denise Zimmerman, Katherine Gleason, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, unnumbered page:",
          "text": "In 1986, a federal appeals court ruled that Wicca is a legal religion. That means that the practice of Wicca is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Ever since the ruling, more and more Wiccans have \"come out of the broom closet.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, “Junior Crone”, in Arin Murphy-Hiscock, editor, Out of the Broom Closet: 50 True Stories of Witches Who Found and Embraced the Craft, unnumbered page:",
          "text": "I cannot claim that I ever came out of the broom closet, because I didn't even know that I had the option of hiding in said closet when I began to self-identify as a Pagan at the age of seventeen.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To publicly reveal that one is a Wiccan or some other type of neopagan."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Wiccan",
          "Wiccan"
        ],
        [
          "neopagan",
          "neopagan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To publicly reveal that one is a Wiccan or some other type of neopagan."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "come out of the broom closet"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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