Examples:
“Now, almost like a skeleton in the cupboard, workmen are bringing to light a reminder of the tram days.”
“We all have a skeleton in the cupboard. In my case, it was publicised to the world and that wasn’t really fair, I don’t think.”
The US version of this idiom is “a skeleton in the closet.”
e.g. “Countless films and TV shows present a group of friends or family who are rattled by the airing of a long-held grievance, or the sudden announcement of a skeleton in the closet.”
An origin for this idiom is offered in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable [1], which tells the story of a search for someone who had no problems. Eventually a lady was found who seemed to fulfil this criterion; however, she then took her interviewers upstairs and opened a cupboard containing a human skeleton, which was that of her husband’s rival, killed in a duel. She explained that every night, her husband made her kiss this skeleton.
Photo credit: Jean-Christophe THEIL (Creative Commons)
[1] “Skeleton” In Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by Susie Dent. 19th ed. Chambers Harrap, 2012.
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