释义

Skeleton 骨架，骨骼；closet储藏室
An embarrassing secret；A secret source of shame, potentially ruinous if exposed, which a person or family makes efforts to conceal.
让人尴尬的秘密；一个不可见人的秘密，如果暴露就会招致不好的后果；



来源

This phrase was coined in England in the 19th century. 这个词组在19世纪的英国被发明。The English now usually use &`&a skeleton in the cupboard&`&, with &`&skeleton in the closet&`& more common in the USA. 现在英国人用得更多的是skeleton in the cupboard ，美国人多用skeleton in the closet 。A skeleton in the closet&`& undoubtedly originated as an allusion to an apparently irreproachable person or family having a guilty secret waiting to be uncovered. 储藏室里的骨架，暗示的是一个没有过失的人或者家庭做出了不可告人的错事。The close-at-hand domestic imagery of a closet or cupboard gives a sense of the ever-present risk of discovery. 储藏室或者橱柜里的骨架这个比喻很形象地说明这个秘密很有可能随时被发现。The phrase was first used in the early 1800s. 这个词组第一次有记载的使用是在18世纪。The first reference found in print is a figurative one in a piece by William Hendry Stowell, in the UK monthly periodical The Eclectic Review, 1816. William Hendry Stowell 在1816年英国名叫The Eclectic Review 的月刊中提到。
Two great sources of distress are the danger of contagion and the apprehension of hereditary diseases. 不幸的两个源泉是这种疾病传染的危险性和遗传的恐惧。The dread of being the cause of misery to posterity has prevailed over men to conceal the skeleton in the closet...人们担心会遗传给后代，于是都会去隐瞒这个事情。
也有人说这个词组来源于臭名昭著的抢尸者的年代，也就是在1832年之前，英国的解剖学法令还没有允许医生使用尸体来做科学研究，所以有些医生会非法藏尸体在家里的储藏室里。



举例
1, 王小二想竞选总统，但是因为他的丑事太多，所以一定不会成功；
He&`&s a very popular senator but he will never be elected president; he has too many skeletons in the closet.
2, 刚找男朋友，你妈不喜欢，就问你那个男孩有什么不好的地方，你不耐烦地说：
I had only known him for one week. How could I know what skeletons he had in his closet?