a. gen. An enclosed place, an enclosure.

†b. in close: in a closed place; in confinement, closed up, shut up.

c. Law. breaking one's close (law Latin clausum frangere): see quot.

†a. gen. Obsolete.

b. A farm-yard. Now in Kent, Sussex, Scottish.

c. The precinct of a cathedral. Hence sometimes = The cathedral clergy.

†d. The precinct of any sacred place; a cloister.

†e. See quot. c1440. Obsolete.

a. An entry or passage. Now, in Scotland, esp. one leading from the street to dwelling houses, out-houses, or stables, at the back, or to a common stair communicating with the different floors or ‘flats’ of the building. Also variously extended to include the common stair, the open lane or alley, or the court, to which such an entry leads.

b. Hence, close-head, close-mouth.

c. A short street closed at one end, a cul-de-sac. Often in proper names of such streets.

a. gen. Closed, shut; having no part left open. Often as complement of predicate, as in to shut close. (Cf. B. 1.)

b. Heraldry of wings. close crown n. = French couronne close: see crown n.

c. transferred of weather, season (see quots.).

d. Of vowel-sounds: Pronounced with partial closing of the lips, or with contraction of the oral cavity. Opposed to open. (In French fermé.)

a. Enclosed or shut in, esp. with walls or barriers; shut up, confined, narrow. Const. in, from.

b. transferred of a siege.

c. Of a game of chess: see quot. 1818; now, more usually, one characterized by lack of development either by gambits or by opening up the files.

a. Shut up from observation; concealed, occult, hidden, secret; secluded.

b. Private, secluded, snug. archaic or Obsolete.

c. in to keep close, lie close, etc. (Cf. B. 1.)

a. Strict, rigorous, severe. Obsolete.

b. In close mourners, there was probably originally a reference to the seclusion of the mourners; close mourning came at length to be = deep mourning at deep adj. 14c: see Compounds 3.

a. Of substances: Dense or compact in texture or consistency; ‘without interstices or vacuities’ (Johnson).

b. Of aggregates of things: Dense or compact in arrangement, e.g. of thickets, etc., close-planted; of writing, compressed, cramped.

c. figurative. Of literary style: Condensed, pithy (obsolete). Of reasoning: Opposed to loose or discursive.

a. Of two or more parts or things in local relation: ‘Joined without any intervening distance or space’ (Johnson); in immediate proximity, very near.Apparently first used as complement of predicate, as in to cling close, keep close, lie close, sit close, stand close, stick close; hence passing into an adverb; see B. 1a. Occasionally more adjectival, as in quot. 1840.

b. Hence, as attribute of nouns of condition, e.g. close order, close rank, or of action, as close fight, close combat, with various elliptical extensions, as close distance, etc.

b. Hence, with substantives of action or position. close shave (originally U.S.): a narrow escape, a near thing (literal and figurative).

c. Nautical. close to (also by, on, upon) a wind, and similar expressions: see quot. 1867. (In both adj.adv. uses.)

d. figurative. Pressing hardly. Cf. hard adv.

e. Designating a cinema or television ‘shot’ taken with the camera at a short distance from the subject (cf. close-up n.); so close-medium shot (see quot. 1933).

a. Of examination, attention, etc.: Directed strictly and closely to the subject of consideration; strict, minute, searching.

b. spec. in Literary Criticism, close criticism, close reading, etc., critical and detailed analysis of a text; an example of this. Also applied to the analysis of other works of art.

a. Said of a contest of any kind in which the two sides are very nearly equal in numbers or strength.

b. Having parties or votes nearly equal in number. U.S.