close

verb

1. 1

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To move a thing, or part of a thing, nearer to another so that the gap or opening between the two is removed.

   Close the door behind you when you leave.

   Many flowers close at night.

   Jim closed his eyes and reclined back in his chair.

   The runner in second place is closing the gap on the leader.

2. 2

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To obstruct or block.

   They closed the road for the festival.

   Ice has closed the channel to shipping.

3. 3

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To become denser or more crowded with objects.

   As we penetrated further, the forest closed around us.

4. 4

   figurativeTo remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To make or become unreceptive.

   He has closed his mind to new ideas.

5. 5

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To move to a position preventing fluid from flowing.

6. 6

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To move to a position allowing electricity to flow.

7. 7

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. 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.

8. 8

   To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To angle (a club, bat or other hitting implement) downwards and/or (for a right-hander) anticlockwise of straight.

9. 9

   To finish. To end or conclude.

   The committee chairman made a few concluding remarks and then closed the session.

   to close a bargain; to close a course of instruction

   One frugal supper did our studies close.

   If these brief lays, of Sorrow born, ⁠Were taken to be such as closed ⁠Grave doubts and answers here proposed, Then these were such as men might scorn: […]

10. 10

    To finish. To finish; to come to an end.

    The debate closed at six o'clock.

11. 11

    To finish. To conclude (a sale).

12. 12

    To finish. To perform as the final act at (a show etc.).

    Nirvana closed the festival.

13. 13

    To finish. To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.

    He has closed the last two games for his team.

14. 14

    To finish. To cancel or reverse (a trading position).

15. 15

    To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use. To put out of use or operation.

    We are closing the phone lines at 9 pm.

    Your account has been closed because of non-payment.

    They closed the airport because of a bomb scare.

16. 16

    To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use. To cease operation or cease to be available.

    Phone lines will close in ten minutes.

    Our options are closing fast.

17. 17

    To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use. To cease trading for the day, or permanently.

    The supermarket closes at eight o'clock.

    Lots of shops in the town centre have closed because of the recession.

    The FTSE 100 closed up 1.2%.

18. 18

    To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use. 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.

19. 19

    To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use. To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.

    Close the file when you have finished reading data.

    This app has a bug: when you try to sort a large spreadsheet, it closes.

20. 20

    To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use. To turn off; to switch off.

    Please close the lights, the (electric) fan, the TV.

21. 21

    figurativeTo come or gather around; to enclose.

    The depth closed me round about.

    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.

22. 22

    To have a vector sum of 0; that is, to form a closed polygon.

noun

1. 1

   An end or conclusion.

   We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close.

   His long and troubled life was drawing to a close.

2. 2

   The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.

   The doors of plank were; their close exquisite.

3. 3

   The point at the end of a sales pitch when the consumer is asked to buy.

   Regardless of the situation, the minute you feel it's time for the close, try it.

4. 4

   A grapple in wrestling.

   The intestine shocke, And furious cloze of ciuill Butchery.

5. 5

   The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.

   At every close she made, the attending throng / Replied, and bore the burden of the song.

6. 6

   A double bar marking the end.

7. 7

   The time when check-in staff will no longer accept passengers for a flight.

adjective

1. 1

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. At little distance; near in space or time.

   Is your house close?

   Christmas is getting close.

   […] 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.

2. 2

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Almost, but not quite (getting to an answer, goal, or other state); near.

   No, but you were close.

   We were so close to winning!

   She wasn't quite in tears but she was close.

   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.

3. 3

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Almost resulting in disaster.

   Phew! That was close!

4. 4

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; almost exactly matching.

   Their ages are quite close.

   His face is a close fit with the artist's impression.

   It was a close contest.

5. 5

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact or nearly so.

   a close translation; a close copy

6. 6

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Intimate or immediate in personal relationship.

   He is a close friend.

   My brother and I were close when we were younger, but not so much now.

   For Christmas we just had a few close relatives round.

   a close colleague; a close ally

7. 7

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Involving a tight connection; involving frequent communication, shared or cooperative activity, etc.

   We have a close affiliation with the college.

   I keep in close contact with my former colleagues.

8. 8

   Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to. Nearing orgasm.

9. 9

   Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Physically narrow or confined.

   a close alley; close quarters; close confines

   [...] he took to wondering what possible temptation could have induced a dingy-looking fly that was crawling over his pantaloons, to come into a close prison, when he had the choice of so many airy situations [...]

10. 10

    Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Tight, with little space separating components or elements.

    For this job it's best to use wood with a close grain.

    These trousers are a close fit.

11. 11

    Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Strictly confined; carefully guarded.

    He was captured and kept a close prisoner.

12. 12

    Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Tightly restricted in availability.

    The pregnancy was a close secret.

    His lawyers have so far kept this information close.

13. 13

    Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.

14. 14

    Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.

    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.

    1907, Algernon Blackwood, The Dance of Death …the artificial light and close air of his high office stool …

    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.

15. 15

    Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Hot, humid, with no wind.

16. 16

    archaicCompressed, restricted, constrained, etc. Dense; solid; compact.

    The golden globe being put into a press, [...] the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal.

17. 17

    Rigorous, careful, etc. Attentive; undeviating; strict.

    The patient was kept under close observation.

    Keep a close eye on him.

    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.

18. 18

    Rigorous, careful, etc. Carefully done, detailed.

    This issue merits close examination.

    Unfortunately, on close reading of the Ts and Cs, it appears that your insurance does not cover this.

19. 19

    Rigorous, careful, etc. Accurate; precise.

20. 20

    Short.

    to cut grass or hair close

21. 21

    archaicClosed, shut.

    There is no thinge ſo cloſe / that ſhall not be openned / and no thinge ſo hyd that ſhall not be knowen.

    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...

    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.

22. 22

    Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.

23. 23

    With its wings at its side, closed, held near to its body (typically also statant); (of wings) in this posture.

    Crest, a cockatrice, wings close, vert, combed and wattled gu.

    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.

    Arms : Azure, a chevron ermine between three cross - crosslets fitchy argent. Crest : An eagle close argent, ducally gorged.

24. 24

    datedDifficult to obtain.

    Money is close.

    Some of these parties have not paid their last payment, because money was close last fall.

    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.

25. 25

    datedParsimonious; stingy.

    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; [...]

    [...] he was a crusty old fellow, as close as a vice.

    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.

26. 26

    obsoleteOut of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.

    He yet kept himself close because of Saul.

    her close intent

27. 27

    archaicConcise; to the point.

    close reasoning

    Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass.

28. 28

    Marked, evident.

adverb

1. 1

   In a close manner (limited contexts; more often closely). So as to leave or create little distance or space between objects.

   The car behind was following too close and could not brake in time.

   Please stay close together.

2. 2

   In a close manner (limited contexts; more often closely). Carefully, in detail.

   Look close at the pictures.

3. 3

   In a close manner (limited contexts; more often closely). In combination (sometimes potentially ambiguous between adverb and adjective).

   close-packed, close-knit, close-fitting

noun

1. 1

   A street that ends in a dead end.

2. 2

   historicalPrivate fenced land, such as a paddock, orchard or yard, that, along with the common pasture land and woodland, constituted the inarable component of the open-field system of the medieval manor in England.

   To be SOLD, At Mr. PACEY's, the WHITE LION in Nottingham, on Thursday the 28th Day of May, between the Hours of three and six in the Afternoon; THE INHERITANCE in Fee Simple of the MANOR of ALSWORTH, otherwise AWSWORTH, in the County of Nottingham, and also several Messuages and Tenements, with the Closes and Parcels of Land, Meadow, and Pasture Ground thereto belonging,...

3. 3

   archaicAn enclosed field, especially a field enclosed around a (usually religious) building (e.g. a cathedral close).

4. 4

   A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.

5. 5

   The common staircase in a tenement.

   The woman nodded at a nearby flight of steps. 'This is my close. We can talk in here. Come on.'.

   closes surrounded by the venerable abodes of deans and canons.

6. 6

   The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed.

Forms

plural

closes

comparative

closer

superlative

closest

past tense

closed

past participle

closed

present participle

closing

third person singular

closes