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Close   /kloʊs/  /kloʊz/   Listen
adjective
Close  adj.  (compar. closer; superl. closest)  
1.
Shut fast; closed; tight; as, a close box. "From a close bower this dainty music flowed."
2.
Narrow; confined; as, a close alley; close quarters. "A close prison."
3.
Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude; said of the air, weather, etc. "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."
4.
Strictly confined; carefully quarded; as, a close prisoner.
5.
Out of the way observation; secluded; secret; hidden. "He yet kept himself close because of Saul." ""Her close intent.""
6.
Disposed to keep secrets; secretive; reticent. "For secrecy, no lady closer."
7.
Having the parts near each other; dense; solid; compact; as applied to bodies; viscous; tenacious; not volatile, as applied to liquids. "The golden globe being put into a press,... the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal."
8.
Concise; to the point; as, close reasoning. "Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass."
9.
Adjoining; near; either in space; time, or thought; often followed by to. "Plant the spring crocuses close to a wall." "The thought of the Man of sorrows seemed a very close thing not a faint hearsay."
10.
Short; as, to cut grass or hair close.
11.
Intimate; familiar; confidential. "League with you I seek And mutual amity, so strait, so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with me."
12.
Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; as, a close vote. "A close contest."
13.
Difficult to obtain; as, money is close.
14.
Parsimonious; stingy. "A crusty old fellow, as close as a vise."
15.
Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact; strict; as, a close translation.
16.
Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict; not wandering; as, a close observer.
17.
(Phon.) Uttered with a relatively contracted opening of the mouth, as certain sounds of e and o in French, Italian, and German; opposed to open.
Close borough. See under Borough.
Close breeding. See under Breeding.
Close communion, communion in the Lord's supper, restricted to those who have received baptism by immersion.
Close corporation, a body or corporation which fills its own vacancies.
Close fertilization. (Bot.) See Fertilization.
Close harmony (Mus.), compact harmony, in which the tones composing each chord are not widely distributed over several octaves.
Close time, a fixed period during which killing game or catching certain fish is prohibited by law.
Close vowel (Pron.), a vowel which is pronounced with a diminished aperture of the lips, or with contraction of the cavity of the mouth.
Close to the wind (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point from which the wind blows as it is possible to sail; closehauled; said of a vessel.


adverb
Close  adv.  
1.
In a close manner.
2.
Secretly; darkly. (Obs.) "A wondrous vision which did close imply The course of all her fortune and posterity."


verb
Close  v. t.  (past & past part. closed; pres. part. closing)  
1.
To stop, or fill up, as an opening; to shut; as, to close the eyes; to close a door.
2.
To bring together the parts of; to consolidate; as, to close the ranks of an army; often used with up.
3.
To bring to an end or period; to conclude; to complete; to finish; to end; to consummate; as, to close a bargain; to close a course of instruction. "One frugal supper did our studies close."
4.
To come or gather around; to inclose; to encompass; to confine. "The depth closed me round about." "But now thou dost thyself immure and close In some one corner of a feeble heart."
A closed sea, a sea within the jurisdiction of some particular nation, which controls its navigation.


Close  v. i.  
1.
To come together; to unite or coalesce, as the parts of a wound, or parts separated. "What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?"
2.
To end, terminate, or come to a period; as, the debate closed at six o'clock.
3.
To grapple; to engage in hand-to-hand fight. "They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest."
To close on or To close upon, to come to a mutual agreement; to agree on or join in. "Would induce France and Holland to close upon some measures between them to our disadvantage."
To close with.
(a)
To accede to; to consent or agree to; as, to close with the terms proposed.
(b)
To make an agreement with.
To close with the land (Naut.), to approach the land.


noun
Close  n.  
1.
The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction. (Obs.) "The doors of plank were; their close exquisite."
2.
Conclusion; cessation; ending; end. " His long and troubled life was drawing to a close."
3.
A grapple in wrestling.
4.
(Mus.)
(a)
The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.
(b)
A double bar marking the end. "At every close she made, the attending throng Replied, and bore the burden of the song."
Synonyms: Conclusion; termination; cessation; end; ending; extremity; extreme.


Close  n.  
1.
An inclosed place; especially, a small field or piece of land surrounded by a wall, hedge, or fence of any kind; specifically, the precinct of a cathedral or abbey. "Closes surrounded by the venerable abodes of deans and canons."
2.
A narrow passage leading from a street to a court, and the houses within. (Eng.)
3.
(Law) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not inclosed.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Close" Quotes from Famous Books



... the deers, wiz their dreat big horns, and—and—every sin," and he nestled close, satisfied he would hear all he wished. So she read a short sketch of the deer, its haunts ...
— Our Young Folks at Home and Abroad • Various
... whom all things are made (John i. 1-3). The very name, as well as the thought, is the same, whether we turn over the pages of Plato or those of John. Philo, the great Jewish Platonist, living in Alexandria at the close of the last century B.C. and in the first half of the first century after Christ, speaks of the Logos in terms that, to our ears, seem purely Christian. Philo was a man of high position among the Jews in Alexandria, being "a man eminent on all ...
— The Freethinker's Text Book, Part II. - Christianity: Its Evidences, Its Origin, Its Morality, Its History • Annie Besant
... "A hundred piasters for the timseach," I exclaimed, and half-a-dozen Arabs plunged into the stream. There! he rises again, and the blacks dash at him as if he hadn't a tooth in his head. Now he is gone, the waters close over him, and I never saw him since. From that time we saw hundreds of crocodiles of all sizes, and fired shots,—enough of them for a Spanish revolution; but we never could get possession of any, even if we hit them, which to this day ...
— The Book of Enterprise and Adventure - Being an Excitement to Reading. For Young People. A New and Condensed Edition. • Anonymous
... ceased its falling, the wind ceased its blowing, the trees of the forest bowed down to listen, and, lo! dear children, as he sang the darkness turned to wondrous light, and close at hand the harper saw the open ...
— The Story-teller • Maud Lindsay
... things on the wall, and his enemy? Should he leap at her white throat? He saw the man running forward, pale as death. Then her hand fell upon his head and the touch sent a thrill through him that quivered in every nerve of his body. With both hands she turned up his head. Her face was very close, and he heard her say, ...
— Kazan • James Oliver Curwood


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