Definition of "close"

close¹

/kləʊz/

verb
third-person singular simple present closes, present participle closing, simple past and past participle closed
1. (physical) To remove a gap.
  1. (transitive, intransitive) To move a thing, or part of a thing, nearer to another so that the gap or opening between the two is removed.
    Quotations
    What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?
    1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], stanza LXXXIV
    If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
    1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 2, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins
  2. To obstruct or block.
  3. (transitive, intransitive, engineering, gas and liquid flow, of valve or damper) To move to a position preventing fluid from flowing.
  4. (transitive, intransitive, electricity, of a switch, fuse or circuit breaker) To move to a position allowing electricity to flow.
  5. To grapple; to engage in close combat.
    Quotations
    They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest.
    1856-1858, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Phillip II
2. To finish, to terminate.
  1. (transitive) To put an end to; to conclude.
    Quotations
    One frugal supper did our studies close.
    1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […]
  2. (intransitive) To come to an end.
  3. (intransitive, of a business) To cease trading for the day.
  4. (ergative, marketing) To conclude (a sale).
  5. (transitive, baseball, pitching) To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.
  6. (ergative, computing) To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.
  7. (transitive, finance) To cancel or reverse (a trading position).
3. (chiefly figurative) To come or gather around; to enclose.
  Quotations
  The depth closed me round about.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Jonah 2:5
  But now Thou dost Thyself immure and close / In some one corner of a feeble heart; / Where yet both Sinne and Satan, Thy old foes, / Do pinch and straiten Thee, and use much art / To gain Thy thirds' and little part.
  1633, George Herbert, The Church
4. (surveying) To have a vector sum of 0; that is, to form a closed polygon.
5. (intransitive) To do the tasks (putting things away, locking doors, etc.) required to prepare a store or other establishment to shut down for the night.
6. (Philippines) To turn off; to switch off.
noun
plural closes
1. An end or conclusion.
  Quotations
  His long and troubled life was drawing to a close.
  1878, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Francis Atterbury”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition‎
2. The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.
  Quotations
  The doors of plank were; their close exquisite.
  1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volumes (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857,
3. (sales) The point at the end of a sales pitch when the consumer is asked to buy.
  Quotations
  Regardless of the situation, the minute you feel it's time for the close, try it.
  1983, Charles B. Roth, Roy Alexander, Secrets of Closing Sales, page 110
4. A grapple in wrestling.
  Quotations
  The intestine shocke, And furious cloze of ciuill Butchery.
  c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
5. (music) The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.
  Quotations
  At every close she made, the attending throng / Replied, and bore the burden of the song.
  1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
6. (music) A double bar marking the end.
7. (aviation, travel) The time when checkin staff will no longer accept passengers for a flight.

close²

/kləʊs/

adjective
comparative closer, superlative closest
1. (now rare) Closed, shut.
  Quotations
  There is nothinge so close, that shall not be openned, and nothinge so hyd that shall not be knowen.
  1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], Matthew viij]
  As the alchymists were assiduous workmen—as they mixed all the metals, salts, &c... and subjected such mixtures to the action of heat in close vessels, their labours were occasionally repaid by the discovery of new substances...
  1830, Thomas Thomson (chemist), The History of Chemistry, volume 1, pages 30–31
  I mounted into the window-seat: gathering up my feet, I sat cross-legged, like a Turk; and, having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close, I was shrined in double retirement.
  1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter I, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […]
2. Narrow; confined.
  Quotations
  a close prison
  1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 41, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837
3. At a little distance; near.
  Quotations
  […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.
  2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71
4. Intimate; well-loved.
  1. (law) Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.
5. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.
  Quotations
  If the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and doors, the one maketh the air close, [...] and the other maketh it exceeding unequal.
  1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […]
  He sighed drowsily. The atmosphere of the auction room was close; you weren't allowed to smoke; and altogether he was beginning to regret that he had come.
  1921, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter X, in Indiscretions of Archie
6. (Ireland, UK, weather) Hot, humid, with no wind.
7. (linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.
8. Strictly confined; carefully guarded.
9. (obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.
  Quotations
  He yet kept himself close because of Saul.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1 Chronicles 12:1
  her close intent
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 57
10. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced.
11. Short.
12. (archaic) Dense; solid; compact.
  Quotations
  The golden globe being put into a press, [...] the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal.
  1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […]
13. (archaic) Concise; to the point.
  Quotations
  Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass.
  1690, John Dryden, Translations (Preface)
14. (dated) Difficult to obtain.
  Quotations
  Some of these parties have not paid their last payment, because money was close last fall.
  1886, “Leases of Lands in the Indian Territory”, in United States Congressional Serial Set, volume 2362, page 184
  We are told out West that the reason money is so close now is because so large an amount has been invested in real estate. I cannot understand why that would make any difference if that money has been sent from one section of the country into another for the purpose of buying real estate. Why should it make any difference as to money being close? We are told in the East large amounts have been invested in the large manufacturing plants, such as the steel plants, etc. but if the money has been invested there it has simply changed hands, and why should that make any difference?
  1903, Gunton's Magazine of American Economics and Political Science, page 249
  But there is reason underlying this confusion: time as well as money is close these days and a small wardrobe of hats can be very boring.
  1965, Country Life - Volume 137, page 326
15. (dated) Parsimonious; stingy.
  Quotations
  Yet were these Florentines as self-retired / In hungry pride and gainful cowardice, / As two close Hebrews in that land inspired, / Paled in and vineyarded from beggar-spies; [...]
  1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], stanza XVII, page 57
  [...] he was a crusty old fellow, as close as a vice.
  1837, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe”, in Twice-Told Tales, volume I
  Though a hard-grained man, close, dry, and silent, he can enjoy old wine with the best. He has a priceless bin of port in some artful cellar under the Fields, which is one of his many secrets.
  1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853
16. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact.
17. Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict.
  Quotations
  I must acknowledge that hitherto I have discover’d no other way to keep our Thoughts cloſe to their Buſineſs, but the endeavouring as much as we can, and by frequent Attention and Application, getting the habit of Attention and Application.
  a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, page 90
18. Marked, evident.
19. Almost, but not quite (getting to an answer or goal); near
20. (heraldry, of a bird) With its wings at its side, closed, held near to its body (typically also statant); (of wings) in this posture. An eagle close.
  Quotations
  Crest, a cockatrice, wings close, vert, combed and wattled gu.
  1780, Joseph Edmondson, A Complete Body of Heraldry
  Sable, an eagle close or - ROPER, Derby. / Sable, a chevron ermine between three eagles close argent - GAMES, Leicester, granted 1614. / Sable a chevron between three eagles close argent - JERVOISE.
  1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 215
  Arms : Azure, a chevron ermine between three cross - crosslets fitchy argent. Crest : An eagle close argent, ducally gorged.
  1902, Lincoln's Inn (London, England), The Records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn, page 458
noun
plural closes
1. (now rare, chiefly Yorkshire) An enclosed field, especially a field enclosed around a (usually religious) building.
2. (chiefly British) A street that ends in a dead end.
3. (Scotland) A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.
4. (Scotland) The common staircase in a tenement.
  Quotations
  The woman nodded at a nearby flight of steps. 'This is my close. We can talk in here. Come on.'.
  2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 279
5. A cathedral close.
  Quotations
  closes surrounded by the venerable abodes of deans and canons.
  1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 3, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
6. (law) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed

Definition of "close"

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close2

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close¹

close²