/kab"euh nit/ , n.
1. a piece of furniture with shelves, drawers, etc., for holding or displaying items: a curio cabinet; a file cabinet.
2. a wall cupboard used for storage, as of kitchen utensils or toilet articles: a kitchen cabinet; a medicine cabinet.
3. a piece of furniture containing a radio or television set, usually standing on the floor and often having a record player or a place for phonograph records.
4. ( often cap. ) a council advising a president, sovereign, etc., esp. the group of ministers or executives responsible for the government of a nation.
5. ( often cap. ) (in the U.S.) an advisory body to the president, consisting of the heads of the 13 executive departments of the federal government.
6. a small case with compartments for valuables or other small objects.
7. a small chamber or booth for special use, esp. a shower stall.
8. a private room.
9. a room set aside for the exhibition of small works of art or objets d'art.
10. Also called cabinet wine . a dry white wine produced in Germany from fully matured grapes without the addition of extra sugar.
11. New Eng. ( chiefly Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts ). a milk shake made with ice cream.
12. Archaic. a small room.
13. Obs. a small cabin.
adj.
14. pertaining to a political cabinet: a cabinet meeting.
15. private; confidential; secret.
16. pertaining to a private room.
17. of suitable value, beauty, or size for a private room, small display case, etc.: a cabinet edition of Milton.
18. of, pertaining to, or used by a cabinetmaker or in cabinetmaking.
19. Drafting. designating a method of projection (cabinet projection) in which a three-dimensional object is represented by a drawing (cabinet drawing) having all vertical and horizontal lines drawn to exact scale, with oblique lines reduced to about half scale so as to offset the appearance of distortion. Cf. axonometric, isometric (def. 5), oblique (def. 13). See illus. under isometric .
[ 1540-50; cabine hut, room on a ship (of uncert. orig., but frequently alleged to be alter. of cabane CABIN) + -et -ET ]
Syn. 4. advisers, ministry, counselors.