- cabinet
- 1540s, from M.Fr. cabinet "small room" (16c.), dim. of O.Fr. cabane "cabin" (see cabin); perhaps influenced by (or rather, from) It. gabbinetto, dim. of gabbia, from L. cavea "stall, stoop, cage, den for animals." Sense of "private room where advisors meet" (c.1600) led to modern political meaning (1640s); cf. board in its evolution from place where some group meets to the word for the group that meets there.