A Skeleton In The Cupboard Meaning

Before we give you the job we need to know if you have any skeletons in the cupboard which the press could find out about.

A skeleton in the cupboard meaning. There must be a skeleton somewhere in that family s closet skeleton in the closet skeleton scandal outrage a disgraceful event. Skeleton in the closet. Skeleton in the closet or skeleton in the cupboard is a colloquial phrase and idiom used to describe an undisclosed fact about someone which if revealed would damage perceptions of the person.

A us variant of this expression is a skeleton in the closet. See full dictionary entry for skeleton. Have a skeleton in the cupboard.

Uk us have a skeleton in the closet to have an embarrassing or unpleasant secret about something that happened in the past. Skeleton in the cupboard definition. As if hiding a murder victim or another object that would cause great distress to the hider if found to have a skeleton in the closet is to have a secret of any sort that you don t want revealed.

On accepting the job maya assured her employers that she had no skeletons in the cupboard. Cupboard may be used in british english instead of the american english word closet. Things like a criminal record or drug or alcohol problems in the past.

Meaning to have hidden away a shameful or embarrassing secret the term skeleton in the cupboard originates from the legalisation of human body dissections. It evokes the idea of someone having had a human corpse concealed in their home so long that all its flesh had decomposed to the bone. Grave diggers would present corpses to doctors to dissect and because of the controversy the doctors would hide away their secrets in a locked cupboard.

Most people have a few skeletons in the cupboard. As bright as a button. Skeleton in the cupboard a scandal that is kept secret.