I. ˈklōz verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English closen, from Old French clos-, stem of clore, from Latin claudere — more at close IV
transitive verb
1.
a. : to move (some part, especially some hinged or sliding part) so as to bar passage through something
close the gate of the plant
keep this valve closed
b.
(1) : to block or shut off (a channel, path, or area) against entry or passage
close a street for snow removal
close a range to settlers
(2) : to stop or deny access to or prohibit use of
close a firing area during target practice
an attempt to close the mails to communist propaganda periodicals
(3) linguistics : to make (a morphological or syntactic construction) incapable of having an additional constituent of a particular kind (as an adjective or a derivational suffix)
the addition of all before these young men closes the construction
the addition of -s to normalize closes the construction
c.
(1) : to block or refuse admission to the inside, interior, or contents of
keep the drawer closed
continued drought caused the governor to close the woods
volumes kept on closed shelves
a seal used in Charlemagne's time to close letters and wills
(2) : to exclude outside blood from (a herd, strain, or breed)
d. : to block out : screen , exclude
close a view
: form a boundary to
a church closes the vista
e. : to make or keep inaccessible, imperceptive, or inscrutable
even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or his conscience — F.D.Roosevelt
magazines closed to inexperienced writers
f.
(1) : to suspend or stop the services, sessions, or operations of
snow and high wind closed the airport
close school because of an outbreak of polio
a theater closed for repairs
(2) : to force to discontinue or end a business enterprise
a manufacturer closed by his creditors
(3) : to exclude the public from
health authorities closed the swimming pools
2.
a. archaic : enclose , encompass , contain
leaving the whole establishment to her, closing only himself in invisible bonds — F.M.Ford
b. : to arrange (the strands of a wire rope) spirally around a center
3.
a. : to bring to an end or period : shut off or preclude further continuation of
the Peace of Westphalia … which closed the Thirty Years' War — Stringfellow Barr
he closed his military career with an idealized concept — Jeannette P. Nichols
he closed his business and moved away
b. : to serve as last, final, or ultimate in (a series, sequence, or development)
Madame Defarge going first … Mr. Lorry closing the little procession — Charles Dickens
the … duet which closes the first act — Saturday Review
c. : to conclude discussion or negotiation about : terminate or bring to agreement, decision, or settlement
questions that have been closed for centuries suddenly yawn wide open — G.B.Shaw
close a deal or bargain
close a real estate transfer of title
d. : to render (an account) no longer current
4.
a. : to bring or bind together the parts or edges of
a closed fist
cut the sides and back to fit and close them with a slide fastener
after amputation close the stump for good scar line
in no hurry to close the wound
closing the break in the metal bar by welding
b. : to fill up (as a hole or opening) with something serving as a sealer, filler, or stopper
first close the cracks with plaster of paris
close a grave
c. : to fill (a gap) so as to attain full continuity or smooth integration
help them to close their dollar gap
efforts to close the sharp division within the alliance
tax loopholes that should be closed
d. : to complete by way of circling or enveloping or by making circumferentially or circuitously continuous
the centripetal force constraining the planets to move in closed orbits — S.F.Mason
to connect electric conductors so as to close a circuit
e. : to stitch together parts forming the upper of (a shoe)
f. : to reduce to nil
milers fast closing the distance to the tape
the ferry closed the last few feet of water between it and the ship
5. of a ship : to come close to
the minesweeper closed the island under cover of darkness
6. : to convert (granular soap) into a homogeneous pasty form (as by adding water and boiling)
7. : to alter (a stance in golf or baseball batting) so that the left foot is closer to the line of play than the right
intransitive verb
1. : to close itself or become closed:
a. : to contract, fold, swing, or slide so as to leave no opening
a camera shutter adjusted to close after 1/50 second
the jackknife closed on my finger
also : to admit of being closed
this valve won't close
b. : to cease operation
forced the mine to close
: discontinue institutional activities
banks and schools close for the holiday
— often used with down, up
c. : to suspend business or end the business day
this store closes at 5 p.m.
— often used with down, up ; also : to remain closed
barbershops close Mondays
d. : to end a theatrical run or tour
the play closed after two weeks
e. : to cease to be passable for boats because of an ice cover
the river has the appearance of closing for the winter
2.
a. : to come near or approach close
radar showed a plane closing fast
a ship fast closing with the land
b. of a racehorse : to lessen the gap with the lead horse or horses especially near the finish or a race
closing fast in the home stretch
c. : to engage in a struggle at close quarters : grapple
forbidding terrain prevented our closing with the enemy
3.
a. : to join together : meet , unite
the jaws of the vise imperceptibly closing
also : to tighten in a grasping or crushing motion
a hand closed on my collar
sullen anger closed down on the community
b. : to become filled in
find themselves in a tight place when the gaps begin to close — W.R.Inge
also : diminish
the distance between us rapidly closed
c. : to draw together, join, or gather so as to cover, conceal, or confine something
clouds soon close over the sun
just as the sea closed over the sinking ship
d. : to form or approach in a tight or diminishing circle
his comrades closed around him protectively
e. : to tighten fingers or jaws in a grasping motion — used often with on
seeing a rope dangling I closed on it
the clamshell bucket closed on a load of dirt
the idea faded befor I could close on it
f. dancing : to draw the free foot up to and into contact with the supporting foot
4. : to enter into or complete an agreement : make a contract
before I can close with a new employer
5.
a. : to come to an end or period : cease from further continuation
his diplomatic career closed with this incident
the services closed with a short prayer
b. : to bring one's discourse or a debate to a conclusion
I close with this warning
the senior debater of each team is to close
c. : to make an announcement or play in certain card games that ends some phase of the game ; especially : to turn the trump card face down in a game of sixty-six in order to stop the draw from the stock and compel players to follow suit
6. civil engineering : to give a closed figure when plotted
this survey of the tract fails to close
— see error of closure
7.
a. : to become priced in the last recorded sale of the trading day in an exchange
to compensate for stock opened at 126, closed at 128
hogs closed strong
b. : to show an overall price average at the end of a trading period
the market managed to close slightly lower
Synonyms:
end , conclude , finish , terminate , complete : all of these words, along with close , are near in meaning and often interchangeable. close may suggest that the matter in question is no longer open to further continuation
the case is now closed and needs no further discussion
these discoveries closed his career in the church
end may more strongly connote finality; likely to contrast with begin, it may imply a certain progress, sequence, or development
difficulties in determining when the medieval period ends
the book ends on a happier note
conclude may be more formal in suggestion
the meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the hostess
finish may suggest full execution or resolution of the last steps or stages of a continued action or process
the War of the Confederacy over but not finished — Elizabeth M. Roberts
at three o'clock his business was finished and he was ready to return — Sherwood Anderson
terminate may suggest a definite term or limit involved, an attaining definitively to that term, with or without completing or fulfilling
the old arrangement with the company, now terminated
the interim appointments having terminated
complete may indicate an ending marked by fulfilling, perfecting, leaving nothing undone
he did not complete the picture until three years later
Words of this series are often close synonyms, and any one of this set may be substituted for close in a sentence like “singing the Alma Mater closes the services”.
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- close its doors
- close one's eyes to
- close ranks
- close the books
- close the door
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English clos, from closen to close — more at close I
1.
a. : a coming or bringing of something to a conclusion or end
the things that a busy life and its premature close left him no time to give — D.M.Davin
at the close of hostilities
b. : a conclusion or end in time or existence : cessation
as the decade drew to a close
bring the chapter to a close
after the close of the war
c. : a final stage, outcome, or finish
conduct the negotiations to a satisfactory close
d. : the concluding passage (as of a speech or play)
e. : complimentary close
2. : the conclusion of a musical strain or period : cadence
3. archaic : a bringing together : meeting , joining
attested by the holy close of lips — Shakespeare
4. archaic : a hostile encounter
unwounded from the dreadful close — Sir Walter Scott
5. : the closing price on a stock or a commodity or the closing prices on an exchange or over-the-counter market
6. dancing : the movement of a free foot towards and into contact with the supporting foot, with or without transfer of weight
III. ˈklōs sometimes -ōz noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English clos, from Old French clos, from Latin clausum enclosure, from neuter of clausus, past participle of claudere
1. : enclosure:
a. dialect Britain : an enclosed field especially near a farmhouse : farmyard
b. Britain : the precinct of a cathedral or abbey ; especially : an enclosed space close to a cathedral bordered by the archdeanery, deanery, and residences (as of the canons)
c. Britain : a walled enclosure (as a paddock or school playground)
d. Britain : an open space (as a quadrangle) that is partially or wholly closed in by a group of dwellings
2. chiefly Britain
a. : a narrow passage or entry leading from a street to a court and the houses within or to the common stairway of tenements
b. : a road closed at one end
3.
a. : a parcel of land in which a person has an interest involving at least a right of present possession whether enclosed or not, an ideal boundary being there in legal fiction
b. : the interest itself entitling the owner to an action of trespass for breach of the close
IV. ˈklōs adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English clos, from Middle French clos, from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere to close; akin to Greek kleid-, kleis key, bolt, kleiein to close, Old Irish clō nail, Old Slavic ključiti to close, Middle Low German slūten to close, Old High German sliozan, Old Frisian slūta
1.
a. : having no openings : closed
a close hatch
drove off in a close carriage
b. heraldry
(1) : with wings folded to the body — used of a bird
(2) : with the visor down — used of a helmet
2. archaic : closed in or around by or as if by walls or hills
close streets of the old city
3.
a. : confined or confining strictly : narrowly restricting or restricted
a close prisoner
close quarters
five days of close arrest
so close was her hold upon his arm that he feared to detach himself lest he should hurt her — Charles Dickens
to escape from a close , systematic, cultivated life into an open and relatively barbarous existence — Lewis Mumford
b.
(1) of a vowel : high I 1a(6)
(2) : formed with the tongue in a higher position than for another vowel — used of one of two vowels constituting a pair because similar in articulation or identical in orthography
Italian has a close and an open e
(3) of lip rounding : extreme
c. : restricted (as in membership, prerogatives, admission to competition) to a privileged class
a close scholarship
d. : closed 3g
the close season for hunting deer
e. of a chess game : characterized by a restricted development of pieces behind the pawns
4.
a. : out of the way of observation : secluded , secret
the bandits kept close during the day
b. : marked by a disposition to secrecy, taciturnity, or extreme discreetness about divulging information
she could tell us something if she would … but she was as close as wax — A. Conan Doyle
5. : maintained or achieved by virtue of unrelaxing scrutiny, acute discernment, and exacting minuteness : strict , rigorous
keeping a close watch on expenditures
close control over the credit structure
keeping records in close accord with facts
nothing short of a close critical analysis will do
a prisoner in close custody
6. : causing a sensation of being slightly smothered or stifled : sultry , stuffy
it seemed from the dreadfully close atmosphere that no window had been opened in it for weeks past — Anthony Trollope
I lolled on the couch and breathed its close smell of cloth in hot weather — Edmund Wilson
7. : reluctant to part with money or possessions : stingy or cautious about expenditures
a close buyer and a good marketer — W.A.White
8. : marked by an arrangement leaving little space between items or units
close texture
close grain in wood
a. : having individuals pressed, arranged, or arrayed quite near each other
in so close and murderous a conflict the valor of no single individual could decide the day — J.L.Motley
flying in close formation
b. : having characters written or inscribed with a minimum of space between
she was handicapped by her almost illegible close handwriting
c. of type : set with minimum spacing between words or lines
d. of a library classification : having relatively small subdivisions — compare broad
e. of an animal's coat : sleek and smooth with the hairs more or less parallel and close to the body : not loose or fluffy
a close -coated dog is better for working briery uplands
9.
a. : fitting quite tightly or exactly with very little looseness, play, or ease
a close gown
a bathing suit skintight and close
b. : very short or near to the ground, skin, or other surface
the fall mowing of the grass was too close
the barber gave him a close shave
c. : accurately matching or blending without interval or gap : precise
a concession that brought him into close harmony with his colleagues
unable to escape the force of close reasoning
d. of a tolerance : minute
10. : marked by being near, by nearness of any sort, or by adjacency, proximity, approach, or approximation in space
as close together as bungalows in a suburban town — American Guide Series: California
St. Louis is closer to Chicago than it is to Detroit
an … ibis, strikingly colorful at close range — American Guide Series: Florida
or in time
these dates come close to the Christmas holidays
or in kind
a strong intense smell close to that of burning garbage — Norman Mailer
Spanish is close to French and Italian
or in feeling
Whittier was close in spirit to the Rhode Island Quakers — American Guide Series: Rhode Island
farmers in overalls … proclaim again how close to the soil is Minneapolis — American Guide Series: Minnesota
or in effect
crude and vulgar are close synonyms
the banker has got to be close to the property he is financing — Encyc. Americana
or in degree
a speed close to that of sound
a salary close to the president's
or in action
his reply left her close to tears
or in relationship
first cousins are close relatives
11.
a. : marked by, given to, or enjoying strong liking or regard, mutual ready confidence, general accord, or constant association
you loved your mother and your sister, all the close circle that was bound to you by blood and habit — Mary Austin
too close to Theodore Roosevelt ever to receive the confidence of Woodrow Wilson — F.L.Paxson
b. : marked by or given to compatibility or conformity of interests, aims, pursuits, preferences, or by cordiality, accord, cooperation, or alliance
the close ties that bind them together
close relations between Norway and Sweden
12.
a. : marked by careful or searching attention to details and their relationships or by consideration of or familiarity with details
many of the 18th century policemen of usage were not close students of the language — Charlton Laird
a close study
close knowledge of French
close questioning about his activities
a close observer of weather conditions
b. : marked by fidelity in details especially to an original
a close copy of an old master
a close analogy between their customs and ours
c. : marked by terse economical expression of details
his exact, close , sober classical style — Edmund Wilson
13.
a. : decided by a narrow margin or a slight edge : long undecided because almost evenly balanced : marked by or showing opposed tendencies nearly even
a close baseball game ending with a score of 10-9
the base runner was safe at second on a close play
the close election of 1916
Minnesota was close , with twelve votes whose disposition must await final count — F.L.Paxson
a close race won by a nose
b. : taking a favorable turn only by a very small margin (as just barely in time or missing disaster by a hair)
looking at the vanishing train, he breathed “that was close ”
c. : having given the winning candidate only a slight majority (as less than 60 percent) in a two-party vote
a congressman from a close district
dividing the seats in the legislature into sure and close seats
14. English law : closed , sealed — used especially of writs or letters directed to particular persons for particular purposes and therefore not left open; opposed to patent
15. finance : difficult to obtain
money is close
16. : closed 1j
17.
a. of punctuation : characterized by liberal use of punctuation marks, especially commas
b. of the punctuation of a letter : characterized by the use of a comma at the end of each line of the heading and inside address except the last and after the complimentary close and of a period at the end of the last line of the heading and the inside address and after the signature — opposed to open
Synonyms:
dense , compact , thick : indicating a tight massing together with little intervening empty space, these words may be interchangeable in many contexts. close typically suggests a pressing together of things separable or often separated
close stitching
close formations
between the close moss violet-inwoven — P.B.Shelley
a close impervious soil — American Guide Series: North Carolina
In literary criticism it may indicate effective compression into few words
a relief to turn back to the austere, close language of Everyman, the simplicity of the mysteries — T.S.Eliot
dense describes an aggregation of particles or component units set very near each other and making penetration or perception difficult
the dense trees of the avenue rendered the road dark as a tunnel — Thomas Hardy
surrounded by a throng so dense that I could scarcely breathe — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
Proust's book is a gigantic dense mesh of complicated relations — Edmund Wilson
compact may suggest a consolidation within a circumscribed area or space making for order, firmness, efficiency, or strength
the village has ceased to be a compact unit and it is no longer easy to find its center — Times Literary Supplement
below the ordinary height … he was all compact and under his swart, tattooed skin the muscles worked like steel rods — Herman Melville
thick may suggest a concentrated abundance
chestnuts near, that hung in masses thick — Alfred Tennyson
what the dry weather doesn't spoil, the tobacco worms will. They were thick as hops — Ellen Glasgow
sometimes the isle was thick with savages … sometimes full of dangerous animals — R.L.Stevenson
Synonym: see in addition familiar , silent , stingy .
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- close to home
V. adverb
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English clos, from clos, adjective
1.
a. : in proximity of space or time
in fog stick close to the white guideline
strangers draw close and ask each other two questions — E.W.Smith
its nucleons draw closer to one another — G.W.Gray b.1866
close to my cheek
close under the roof
building a school close by
overlooking the tasks lying close at hand
it is only close up that the impact of his power-charged personality makes itself felt — R.C.Doty
having their babies closer together
— often used in combination
close -set
b. : in proximity of approach
anxious to come closer to the truth of life
as for solving the problem, we haven't come close
2. archaic : secretly , covertly
His Royal Highness must lie very close here till tomorrow evening — John Buchan
3. : in a close state : tightly
there is not a door, nor a window, that shuts close — Tobias Smollett
4. : in a close manner
on looking closer, it struck me that Hamlet often does one thing instead of another — Karl Polanyi
5. : in close likeness or conformity
sticking close to the classic models
6. : in close or intimate association
the cause that touches me closest
there is something in the heart of street dogs that draws them close to men — William Saroyan
it is up to the illustrator to get as close as he can to the spirit of the text — Mervyn Peake
•
- close to the wind
VI. transitive verb
: to terminate access to (a computer file)