close

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English

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Etymology 1

From Middle English closen (“to close, enclose”), partly continuing (in altered form) earlier Middle English clusen (“to close”) (from Old English clȳsan (“to close, shut”); compare beclose, foreclose, etc.), and partly derived from Middle English clos (“close, shut up, confined, secret”, adjective), from Old French clos (“close, confined”, adjective), from Latin clausus (“shut up”, past participle), from claudere (“to bar, block, close, enclose, bring an end to, confine”), from Proto-Indo-European *klāw- (“key, hook, nail”), related to Latin clāvis (“key, deadbolt, bar”), clāvus (“nail, peg”), claustrum (“bar, bolt, barrier”), claustra (“dam, wall, barricade, stronghold”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, bolt, key”), German schließen (“to close, conclude, lock”), Dutch sluiten (“to close, conclude, lock”). Partially replaced Old English lūcan (“to close, lock, enclose”), (whence English lock). Doublet of clause.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: klōz, IPA(key): /kləʊz/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: klōz, IPA(key): /kloʊz/
  • Rhymes: -əʊz
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Homophone: clothes Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "in some dialects" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.

Verb

close (third-person singular simple present closes, present participle closing, simple past and past participle closed)

  1. (physical) To remove a gap.
    1. To obstruct (an opening).
    2. To move so that an opening is closed.
      Close the door behind you when you leave.
      Jim was listening to headphones with his eyes closed.
    3. To make (e.g. a gap) smaller.
      The runner in second place is closing the gap on the leader.
      to close the ranks of an army
    4. (transitive, intransitive, engineering, gas and liquid flow, of valve or damper) To move to a position preventing fluid from flowing.
    5. (transitive, intransitive, electricity, of a switch, fuse or circuit breaker) To move to a position allowing electricity to flow.
    6. To grapple; to engage in close combat.
      • 1856-1858, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Phillip II
        They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest.
  2. To finish, to terminate.
    1. To put an end to; to conclude; to complete; to finish; to consummate.
      close the session;   to close a bargain;   to close a course of instruction
    2. To come to an end.
      The debate closed at six o'clock.
    3. (marketing) To make a sale.
    4. (baseball, pitching) To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.
      He has closed the last two games for his team.
    5. (figurative, computing) To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.
    6. (transitive, finance) To cancel or reverse (a trading position).
  3. To come or gather around; to enclose; to encompass; to confine.
  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.
    Whoever closed last night forgot to turn off the closet light.
Usage notes

Due to the near-opposite meanings relating to fluid flow and electrical components, these usages are deprecated in safety-critical instructions, with the words to on or to off preferred, so instead of Close valve A; close switch B" use Turn valve A to OFF; turn switch B to ON.

Synonyms
Antonyms
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Translations

Noun

close (plural closes)

  1. An end or conclusion.
    We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close.
    • 1878, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Francis Atterbury”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition‎[1]:
      His long and troubled life was drawing to a close.
  2. The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.
  3. (sales) The point at the end of a sales pitch when the consumer is asked to buy.
    Synonym: closer
    • 1983, Charles B. Roth, Roy Alexander, Secrets of Closing Sales (page 110)
      Regardless of the situation, the minute you feel it's time for the close, try it.
  4. A grapple in wrestling.
  5. (music) The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.
  6. (music) A double bar marking the end.
  7. (aviation, travel) The time when checkin staff will no longer accept passengers for a flight.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French clos, from Latin clausum, participle of claudō.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: klōs, IPA(key): /kləʊs/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /kloʊs/
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊs

Adjective

close (comparative closer, superlative closest)

  2. (now rare) Closed, shut.
  3. Narrow; confined.
    a close alley; close quarters
  4. At a little distance; near.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      […] 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.
    • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
      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.
    Is your house close?
  5. Intimate; well-loved.
    He is a close friend.
    1. (law) Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.
  6. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.
    • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter X, in Indiscretions of Archie:
      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.
  7. (Ireland, England, Scotland, weather) Hot, humid, with no wind.
  9. (linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.
  10. Strictly confined; carefully guarded.
    a close prisoner
  11. (obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.
  12. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced.
    a close contest
  13. Short.
    to cut grass or hair close
  14. (archaic) Dense; solid; compact.
  15. (archaic) Concise; to the point.
    close reasoning
    • 1690, John Dryden, Translations (Preface)
      Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass.
  16. (dated) Difficult to obtain.
    • 1886, “Leases of Lands in the Indian Territory”, in United States Congressional Serial Set, volume 2362, page 184:
      Some of these parties have not paid their last payment, because money was close last fall.
    • 1903, Gunton's Magazine of American Economics and Political Science, page 249:
      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?
    • 1965, Country Life - Volume 137, page 326:
      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.
    Money is close.
  17. (dated) Parsimonious; stingy.
    • 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, […], →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 57:
      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; [...]
    • 1837, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales, Volume I: "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe":
      [...] he was a crusty old fellow, as close as a vice.
    • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
      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.
  18. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact.
    a close translation; a close copy
  19. Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict.
    The patient was kept under close observation.
    • The template Template:RQ:Locke Conduct does not use the parameter(s): 
      url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o0EVAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false
      Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
      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, →OCLC, page 90:
      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.
  20. Marked, evident.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Hyponyms
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Translations

Noun

close (plural closes)

  1. (now rare, chiefly Yorkshire) An enclosed field.
  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.
  5. A cathedral close.
  6. (law) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed[1]
Synonyms
Translations
Descendants
  • → Irish: clós
  • → Welsh: clos

References

  1. ^ Template:R:Bouvier LD

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

close

  1. feminine singular of clos

Verb

close

  1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of clore

Participle

close f sg

  1. feminine singular of the past participle of clore

Anagrams

Further reading

Middle English

Noun

close

  1. plural of cloth

Portuguese

Noun

close m (plural closes)

  1. (photography) close-up (photography in which the subject is shown at a large scale)
    Synonym: close-up
  2. attitude
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