different between cabinet vs backbencher

English

Etymology

From cabin +? -et, influenced by French cabinet.In sense of “a government group”, compare salon, also named for a room used to gather.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæ.b?.n?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kæ.b?.n?t/, /?kæb.n?t/
  • (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?kæ.b?.n?t/, /?kæb.n?t/

Noun

cabinet (plural cabinets)

1. A storage closet either separate from, or built into, a wall.
2. A cupboard.
3. The upright assembly that houses a coin-operated arcade game, a cab.
4. (historical) A size of photograph, specifically one measuring 3?" by 5½".
   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Scandal In Bohemia, Norton (2005), p. 19,

     Holmes took a note of it. “One other question,” said he. “Was the photograph a cabinet?”

5. A group of advisors to a government or business entity.
6. (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.
   1. (Kentucky) A cabinet-level agency in the executive branch; that is, an agency headed by a member of the governor's cabinet.
7. (archaic) A small chamber or private room.
   • 1856-1858, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II

     Philip passed some hours every day in his father's cabinet.

8. (often capitalized) A collection of art or ethnographic objects.
9. (dialectal, Rhode Island) Milkshake.
   • 2012, Linda Beaulieu, Providence & Rhode Island Cookbook: Big Recipes from the Smallest State, p. 268:

     One of Rhode Island's most famous beverages is the Awful Awful, an enormous 32-ounce, rich, creamy milk shake sold at the Newport Creamery stores, a soda fountain and casual restaurant chain. This ultra-thick cabinet is "awful big and awful good," thus the name.

10. (obsolete) A hut; a cottage; a small house.

    • Hearken a while from thy green cabinet, / The rural song of careful Colinet.

11. An enclosure for mechanical or electrical equipment.

Synonyms

• (cabinet-level agency in the executive branch): cabinet agency, cabinet department, program cabinet (rare), superagency (California)

Derived terms

• cabinet agency
• cabinet department
• kitchen cabinet
• program cabinet
• war cabinet

Translations

See also

• animal cabinet
• armoire
• salon

Anagrams

• bacinet

French

Etymology

From cabine +? -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.bi.n?/

Noun

cabinet m (plural cabinets)

1. (archaic) a study
2. an office, a surgery
3. a cabinet
4. a cabinet of government advisors
5. (in the plural) the toilet, lavatory

Derived terms

• cabinet médical
• chef de cabinet

Descendants

• ? Dutch: kabinet
  • ? Indonesian: kabinet
• ? English: cabinet
• ? Georgian: ???????? (?abine?i)
• ? German: Kabinett
  • ? Hungarian: kabinet
  • ? Russian: ???????? (kabinét)
    • ? Ukrainian: ???????? (kabinét)
• ? Persian: ??????? (kâbine)
  • ? Hindi: ?????? (k?b?n?)
  • ? Urdu: ??????? (kábína)

Further reading

• “cabinet” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Romanian

Etymology

From French cabinet.

Noun

cabinet n (plural cabinete)

1. cabinet

Declension

English

Alternative forms

• back-bencher

Etymology

backbench +? -er

Noun

backbencher (plural backbenchers)

1. (politics) A Member of Parliament who does not have cabinet rank, and who therefore sits on one of the backbenches or in one of the back rows of the legislature.
2. (education) A student who does not perform well, especially one who sits at the back of the classroom.
3. (sports) A member of a team who does not usually play, but who is held in reserve.
4. (by extension) Someone who does not play an active role in a process.

Coordinate terms

• frontbencher

Translations