Etimology
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.
verb
close (third-person singular simple present closes, present participle closing, simple past and past participle closed)
(physical) To remove a gap.
To finish, to terminate.
(chiefly figurative) To come or gather around; to enclose.
(surveying) To have a vector sum of 0; that is, to form a closed polygon.
(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.
(Philippines) To turn off; to switch off.
Examples
Synonyms: close up, shut
Antonym: open
Close the door behind you when you leave.
Jim was listening to headphones with his eyes closed.
The runner in second place is closing the gap on the leader.
to close the ranks of an army
What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?
If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
Synonyms: close off, close up, shut, shut off
Antonym: open
The road was closed for the festival.
They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest.
Synonyms: close down, complete, end, finish, wind up, wrap up
Antonyms: begin, commence, initiate, start
close 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 closedGrave doubts and answers here proposed,Then these were such as men might scorn: […]
Synonyms: end, finish, wind up, wrap up
Antonyms: begin, commence, start
The debate closed at six o'clock.
Synonym: shut
Antonym: open
The supermarket closes at eight o'clock.
He has closed the last two games for his team.
Synonym: exit
Antonyms: launch , open, start
Close the file when you have finished reading data.
This app has a bug: when you try to sort a large spreadsheet, it closes.
Synonyms: encompass, confine
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.
Whoever closed last night forgot to turn off the closet light.
Please close the lights. ― Please turn off the lights.
Close the fan please. ― Please switch off the fan.
Close the TV now. ― Turn off the TV now.
Related words
hyponyms
autoclose
related terms
clause
noun
close (plural closes)
An end or conclusion.
The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.
(sales) The point at the end of a sales pitch when the consumer is asked to buy.
A grapple in wrestling.
(music) The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.
(music) A double bar marking the end.
(aviation, travel) The time when checkin staff will no longer accept passengers for a flight.
Examples
We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close.
His long and troubled life was drawing to a close.
The doors of plank were; their close exquisite.
Synonym: closer
Regardless of the situation, the minute you feel it's time for the close, try it.
The intestine shocke, And furious cloze of ciuill Butchery.
At every close she made, the attending throng / Replied, and bore the burden of the song.
Related words
synonyms
(end): end, finale
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "end"): beginning, start
Etimology
Borrowed from French clos, from Latin clausum, participle of claudō.
adjective
close (comparative closer, superlative closest)
(now rare) Closed, shut.
Narrow; confined.
At a little distance; near.
Intimate; well-loved.
Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.
(Ireland, UK, weather) Hot, humid, with no wind.
(linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.
Strictly confined; carefully guarded.
(obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.
Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced.
Short.
(archaic) Dense; solid; compact.
(archaic) Concise; to the point.
(dated) Difficult to obtain.
(dated) Parsimonious; stingy.
Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact.
Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict.
Marked, evident.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
Almost, but not quite (getting to an answer or goal); near
(heraldry, of a bird) With its wings at its side, closed, held near to its body (typically also statant); (of wings) in this posture. An eagle close.
Examples
There is nothinge so close, that shall not be openned, and nothinge 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.
a close alley; close quarters
a close prison
[…] 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.
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?
He is a close friend.
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.
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.
a close prisoner
He yet kept himself close because of Saul.
her close intent
a close contest
to cut grass or hair close
The golden globe being put into a press, [...] the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal.
close reasoning
Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass.
Some of these parties have not paid their last payment, because money was close last fall.
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?
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.
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.
a close translation; a close copy
The patient was kept under close observation.
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.
No, but you were close.
We were so close to winning!
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.
Related words
synonyms
(at a little distance): close by, near, nearby; see also Thesaurus:near
(intimate): intimate
(hot, humid): muggy, oppressive; see also Thesaurus:muggy
(articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate): high
(dense, solid, compact): see also Thesaurus:compact
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "at a little distance"): distant, far, faraway, far off, remote; see also Thesaurus:distant
(antonym(s) of "intimate"): aloof, cool, distant
(antonym(s) of "articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate"): open
hyponyms
this close, thisclose
ultra-close
noun
close (plural closes)
(now rare, chiefly Yorkshire) An enclosed field, especially a field enclosed around a (usually religious) building.
(chiefly British) A street that ends in a dead end.
(Scotland) A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.
(Scotland) The common staircase in a tenement.
A cathedral close.
(law) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed
Examples
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.
Related words
synonyms
(street): cul-de-sac
(narrow alley): See Thesaurus:alley