close 
gether: as, to close one's mouth ; to close a door 
or a room; to close a book. 
The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep 
sleep, and hath closed your eyes. Isa. xxix. 10. 
K. J'hil. Close your hands. 
Aust. And your lips too. Shak., K. John, ii. 2. 
Close the door, the shutters dose. 
Tennyson, The Deserted House. 
3. To stop (up) ; fill (up) ; repair a gap, open- 
ing, or fracture in; unite; consolidate: often 
followed by up: as, to close an aperture or a 
room ; to close or close up the ranks of troops. 
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ; 
or rln*e the wall uu with our English dead. 
Shak., Hen. V., iii. 1. 
4. To end ; finish ; conclude ; complete ; bring 
to a period : as, to close a bargain or contract ; 
to close a lecture. 
One frugal supper did our studies close. Dryden. 
The procession moves very slowly ; it is dosed by a sec- 
ond party of musicians, similar to the first, or by two or 
three drummers. E. IT. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 207. 
5f. To draw near to; approach; close with 
(which see, under II.). 
On our answering in the affirmative, Bellerophon's Sig- 
nal was made to close the Admiral, which we immediately 
made sail to accomplish. 
Quoted in N. and Q., 6th ser., IX. 261. 
6. In shoemaking, to sew or stitch together (the 
parts of the upper) Closed bundle. See bundle. 
Closed curve, in math., a curve which returns into itself ; 
an oval. Closed gauntlet, in medieval arnwr, a sort of 
gauntlet used in tourneys and justs in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. It was of the form of a closed hand, and was opened 
or closed by means of a hook and staple or a turning-pin ; 
the hand of the wearer, when inserted in it, could not be 
arates all space into two regions, so that it is impossible 
to pass from one to the other by a continuous motion with- 
out crossing the surface. To close a circuit, in elect. 
See circuit, 12, and electricity. to close an account. 
(a) In bookkeeping, to balance the credit and debit sides of 
an account-book at some fixed time, as the end of a fiscal 
year, (b) To settle up an account. To close out, to get 
rid of ; dispose of ; sell off : as, to close out a line of goods. 
To close the books. See book. 
II. intrans. 1. To come together, either liter- 
ally or figuratively ; fall; draw; gather around, 
as a curtain or a fog: often followed by on or 
upon : as, the shades of night close upon us. 
They . . . went down alive into the pit, and the earth 
dosed upon them. Num. xvi. 33. 
Pass beneath it [an equestrian statue of King Louis] into 
the court, and the sixteenth century closes round you, 
H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 28. 
2. To end; terminate or come to a period: as, 
the debate closed at six o'clock. 3. To engage 
in close encounter, or in a hand-to-hand fight; 
grapple ; come to close quarters. 
If I can close with him, I care not for his thrust. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 
After so wide a compass as I have wandered, I do now 
cladly overtake and close in with my subject. 
Swift, Tale of a Tub, xi. 
Scarce could they hear or see their foes, 
Until at weapon-point they dose. 
Scott, Munition, vi. 25. 
1054 
He's come to Glenlyon's yett [gate] 
About the close o' day. 
Bonny Baby Livingston (Child's Ballads, IV. 43). 
Death dawning on him, and the dose of all. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
3. In music, the conclusion of a strain or of a 
musical period or passage ; a cadence. 
They read in savage tones, and sing in tunes that have 
no affinity with musicke ; joyning voices at the severall 
dozes. Se/ndyt, Travailes, p. 114. 
At every close she made, th' attending throng 
Replied, and bore the burden of the song. 
Driiden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 197. 
4. A grapple, as in wrestling. 
The king . . . went of purpose into the north, . . . 
laying an open side unto Perkin, to make him come to the 
dose, and so to trip up his heels. Bacon, Henry VII. 
Their hug is a cunning dose with their fellow-combat- 
ants, the fruits whereof is his fair fall or foil at the least. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 146. 
close 2 (klos), a. [< ME. clos, close, cloos, < OF. 
clos, pp. of clore, shut, close : see close 1 , i\~] 1. 
Completely inclosing; brought together so as 
to leave no opening ; having all openings cov- 
ered or drawn together; confined; having no 
vent : as, a close box ; a close vizor. 
Now the troyens, with tene [grief], all the toun jatys [gates] 
Keppit full douse, with care at nor hertes. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 11152. 
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night. 
Shak., R. and J., iii. 2. 
If he be locked in a dose room, he is afraid of being stifled 
for want of ah-. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 234. 
About 10 a-Clock that Night the King himself came in a 
close Coach with intent to visit the Prince. 
Howell, Letters, I. iii. 15. 
2. Narrowly confined; pent up; imprisoned; 
strictly watched : as, a close prisoner. 
He may be dose for treason, perhaps executed. 
Fletcher and Shirley, Night -Walker, v. 2. 
It was voted to send him dose prisoner to Newgate. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 240. 
3. Betired; secluded; hidden. 
He vet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish. 
1 Chron. xii. 1. 
She takes special pleasure in a close obscure lodging. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Kevels, ii. 1. 
4. Kept secret ; private ; secret. 
- In some of their close writings, which they will not suf- 
fer to come into the hands of Christians. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 197. 
Germauicus 
Lives in their looks, their gait, their form, t' upbraid us 
With his close death. B. Jonson, Sejanus, ii. 2. 
His meaning he himselfe discovers to be full of close 
malignity. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
5. Having the habit of secrecy or a disposition 
to keep secrets ; secretive ; reticent. 
Constant you are, 
But yet a woman : and for secrecy, 
No lady closer ; for I will believe 
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 3. 
Be withal dose and silent, and thy pains 
Shall meet a liberal addition. Ford, Fancies, iii. 1. 
that no further drawing can be done To close 
In, to envelop ; settle down upon and around anything. 
As the night closed in, they reached the chain of little 
valleys and hamlets, locked up among these rocky heights. 
Irving, Granada, p. 88. 
To close on or upon, (a) To come to a mutual agree- 
ment about ; agree on or join in. 
Jealousy . . . would induce France and Holland to close 
upon some measures ... to our disadvantage. 
Sir W. Temple. 
(b) In fencing, to get near enough to touch by making a 
step forward without deranging the position of the body. 
TO Close out, to sell out a business, a special stock of 
goods, or the like. To close with, (a) To accede to; 
consent or agree to : as, to dose with the terms proposed. 
I applaud your spirit, and joyfully close with your pro- 
posal. Sheridan, The Duenna, ii. 2. 
It is a very different thing indolently to say, "I would 
I were a different man," and to dose with God's offer to 
make you different, when it is put before you. 
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, I. 37. 
(b) To come to an agreement with : as, to dose with a 
person on certain terms. 
Pride is so unsociable a vice that there is no closing with 
it. Jeremy Collier, Friendship. 
(c) See II., 3. (d) To harmonize ; agree. 
This pernicious counsel closed very well with the posture 
of affairs at that time. Swift, Conduct of Allies. 
To close with the land (naut.), to come near to the 
land. 
close 1 (kloz), n. [< close 1 , v.~\ If. The man- 
ner of shutting ; junction ; coming together. 
The doors of plank were ; their dose exquisite. 
Chapman. 
2. Conclusion ; termination ; end : as, the close 
of life ; the close of deliberations. 
h n-ouWel breast 
Shak, K. John,' iv. 2. 
,_ , how the , ood 
7. Having little openness, space, or , 
contracted; narrow; confined: as, a close alley. 
By a stranger who merely passed through the streets, 
Cairo would be regarded as a very dose and crowded city. 
E. H'. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 5. 
Itself a close and confined prison for debtors, it contained 
within it a much closer and more confined Jail for smug- 
glers. Dickens, Little Dorrit, i. 6. 
8. Stagnant; without motion or ventilation; 
difficult to breathe ; oppressive : said of the air 
or weather, and of a room the air in which is in 
this condition. 
Do you not find it dreadfully close ? not a breath of air? 
Buluier, Eugene Aram, ii. 7. 
The air is damp, and hush'd, and dose. 
Tennyson, Song. 
9. Near together in space or time ; near to; in 
contact or nearly so ; adjoining: as, actoserow 
of trees ; to follow in close succession. 
Nor can even the pantheist claim any closer indwelling 
in nature for his mechanical all-pervading essence than 
the Bible claims for its personal God. 
Damon, Nature and the Bible, p. 31. 
10. Having the parts near each other or sepa- 
rated by only a small interval; condensed : as, 
the writing is too close, (a) Compact ; dense : as, 
timber of close texture or very close in the grain ; a dose 
texture in cloth. (6) Viscous ; not volatile. [Rare.] 
This oil, which nourishes the lamp, is supposed to be 
of so dose and tenacious a substance that it may slowly 
evaporate. Bp. Wilkins. 
close 
(c) In music : (1) Having the voice-parts as near one an- 
other as possible : especially used in the expression close 
haniwny. (2t) In lute-playing, smooth; connected; lega- 
to : as, close playing, (c/t) Compressed ; condensed ; con- 
cise : applied to style, and opposed to loose or ilijhix*: 
Where the original is close, no version can reach it in 
the same compass. Dnjden. 
(e) In bot., same as oppressed, (f) In her.: (1) Having the 
wings lying close to the body: said of 
birds. [This use is considered unneces- N 
sary, because birds are assumed to have 
their wings closed, except when spe- 
cially blazoned otherwise.] (2) Having 
the vizor down : said of a helmet. (3) 
Shut up ; closed, as a pair of brays. 
11. Near, in a figurative sense. 
(a) Intimate ; trusted : as, a dose friend. A D ^ close 
1 I can never be close with her, as he 
That brought her hither. Tennyson, llalin and Balan. 
(b) Nearly related ; allied : as, dose, groups in zoology. 
12. Kesting upon some strong uniting feeling, 
as love, self-interest, honor, etc. ; strong; firm: 
as, a close union of individuals or of nations. 
Many such, when they find themselves alone, saving 
their reputation will compound with other scruples, and 
come to a dose treaty with their dearer vices in secret. 
Milton, Church-Government, ii. 3. 
13. Undeviating; not wandering, (a) Not deviat- 
ing from the object to which one's mind or thoughts are 
directed, or from the subject under consideration : as, to 
give dose attention ; a close observer. 
Keep your mind or thoughts close to the business or sub- 
ject. iMcke. 
(b) Not deviating from a model or original : as, a close 
translation or imitation ; a close copy. 
14. Strictly logical : as, close reasoning. 
But when any point of doctrine is handled in a close and 
argumentative manner, it appears flat and unsavoury to 
them. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, IV. v. 
15. Stingy; niggardly; penurious. 16. 
Scarce ; difficult to get : as, money is close. 
Close borough. Seeboroughl. Close breeding, breed- 
ing in-and-in. See breed, v. i. Close communion. See 
communion. Close contact. See contact. Close cor- 
poration, a corporation which fills its own vacancies. In 
Great Britain, until recent years, many towns were gov- 
erned by such corporations. Close fertilization, in bot., 
the fertilization of the pistil by pollen from the same 
flower. Close harmony. See harmony. Close herd- 
ing. See herding. Close matter, in printing, printed 
matter or written copy with few paragraphs or breaks. 
Close order. See order. Close port, in England, a 
port situated up a river: in contradistinction to an out- 
port, or a harbor which lies on the coast. Close reef 
(naut.), the last reef in a sail. Close rolls, rolls kept 
for the record of close writs (see below). Also called 
clause-rolls. Close string, in dog-legged stairs, a stair- 
case without an open newel. Close vowel, a vowel pro- 
nounced with diminished aperture of the lips, or with 
contraction of the cavity of the mouth. Close writs, 
grants of the sovereign, sealed with the great seal, di- 
rected to particular persons for particular purposes, and 
closed up and sealed on the outside, as not being designed 
for public inspection. To come to close quarters, to 
come into direct conflict, especially with an enemy. = Syn. 
16. Miserly, niggardly, etc. See penurious. 
close 2 (kios), adv. [< ME. clos, close, cloos, adv., 
< clos, close, adj.: see cfose 2 , a.] 1. Tightly 
or closely; so as to leave no opening: as, shut 
the blinds close. 
Draw the curtains dote. Shak., Hen. VIII., v. 2. 
2. In strict confinement. 
Let them be clapp'd up close. Shot., 2 Hen. VI., i. 4. 
3. In concealment; in hiding; in secret; se- 
cretly. 
Speke cloos all thyug as thombe in flste. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 110. 
An onion, ... 
Which, in a napkin being close convey'd, 
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye. 
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., i. 
Get ye all three into the box-tree ; Malvolio's coming 
down this walk. . . . Close, in the name of jesting ! 
Shak., 1. N., ii. 5. 
Advise Mr. W. to keep close by all means, and make 
haste back. T. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 462. 
4. Near in space or time ; in contact, or nearly 
touching : as, to follow close behind one. 
There could hardly better News be brought to me, than 
to understand that you are so great a Student, and that 
having passed through the Briars of Logic, you fall so 
dose to Philosophy. Hmeell, Letters, iv. 31. 
Behind her Death, 
Close following, pace for pace. 
Milton, P. L., x. 589. 
Close-shooting firearm, a firearm which delivers a 
charge of shot compactly, with little scattering. Close 
to the wind, with the head lying so near to the wind as 
just to fill the sails without shaking them : said of a ship 
when close-hauled. 
close 2 (klos), n. [< ME. clos, close, cloos, an in- 
closed place, yard, closet, pass, bounds, etc., 
< OF. clos, an inclosed place, etc., prop. pp. 
of clore : see close 2 , a., and close 1 , v. Cf . closet.} 
1. An inclosed place ; any place surrounded by 
a fence, wall, or hedge. 
As two fruitful! Elms that spred 
Amidst a Cloase with brooks environed, 
Ingender other Elms about their roots. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Colonies. 
