I. ˈklōzd adjective
Etymology: Middle English, past participle of closen to close
1.
a. of a vehicle : having a permanently enclosed body with stationary back, side panels, and top
b. : structurally enclosed or closed in
a closed porch
a closed freight car
a closed stairway
c. : covered over
bake in a closed dish
d. : blocked up or blocked in
closed valleys
e. : barring or barred to traffic
illegally entering a closed port
a closed street
f. phonetics : checked
g. : kept secret
a closed file on suspects
the closed ballot
h. of the face of an animal : covered especially with wool or hair
i.
(1) : covered by unbroken skin
closed fracture
(2) : not discharging pathogenic organisms to the outside
a case of closed tuberculosis
— compare open
j. : not free : covered — used of a tone in music, specifically a tone of the upper register; opposed to open
2.
a.
(1) : forming a self-contained unit admitting of no additions
a closed collection of documents
organisms are not self-sufficient closed systems — Weston La Barre
(2) of habitats or communities : so completely stocked as to offer no opportunity for additional kinds of organisms to enter and establish themselves
a closed association
b. : lacking boundaries and having no point or element that has an infinite coordinate — used of lines, surfaces, and extents of any number of dimensions
the closed circumference of a circle
c. : existing with few external relations
treating atomic physics as a closed subject
specifically : having only limited foreign trade and approaching economic self-sufficiency
a closed economy
d.
(1) of a flock or herd : bred from a single strain
(2) of a stud book : permitting solely the registration of animals of which both sire and dam are registered therein — compare open
e. of a racetrack : having the same starting and finishing point
f. : characterized by continuous return and reuse of the working medium — used especially of water in a heating system or of air in a cooling system
g. : established in an invariable pattern
a closed program
h.
(1) dancing : placing the free foot up to and in contact with the supporting foot
(2) ballroom dancing : facing each other with the man's right arm around the woman's waist, the woman's left hand on the man's right shoulder, and their free hands joined
3.
a. : rigidly excluding outside influence : having minimum contact
to any but the most closed of minds — R.E.McGill
b. : excluding participation of outsiders and witnesses : conducted in strict secrecy
taking part in closed international conferences
c. : confined to a few : restricted to selective membership
a closed hospital staff
a closed circle of believers
d. : intolerant of the influx of new members and ideas and approaching a state of social immobility and self-containment with respect to customs and traditions
a closed society
a closed class system
e. : not accessible to other nations
unlimited sovereignty implies the policy of the closed sky
f. sports : restricted to entrants of a specified kind or class
a women's closed golf tournament
a closed event for amateurs only
— contrasted with open
g. : restricted with respect to the time or place for taking game : close
woods closed to hunters
a closed season for trout
4. : having no cambium in the bundle, all meristematic tissue having been differentiated into xylem and phloem — used of certain vascular bundles; compare open
5. logic , of an expression : containing variables all of which are bound — contrasted with open
6. of the punctuation of a letter : close IV 17b
7. : completed — used of a canasta meld containing seven or more cards especially when it has been turned facedown
II. adjective
1. : traced by a moving point that returns to an arbitrary starting point
closed curve
also : so formed that every plane section is a closed curve
closed surface
2.
a. : containing all the limit points of every subset
a closed set
b. of an interval : containing its endpoints
3. : characterized by mathematical elements that when subjected to an operation produce only elements of the same set
the set of whole numbers is closed under addition and multiplication
4. of the universe : having enough mass to stop expanding and eventually collapse