From a close bower this dainty music flowed.
--Dryden.
2. Narrow; confined; as, a close alley; close quarters. ``A
close prison.'' --Dickens.
3. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a
feeling of lassitude; -- said of the air, weather, etc.
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. --Bacon.
4. Strictly confined; carefully quarded; as, a close
prisoner.
5. Out of the way observation; secluded; secret; hidden. ``He
yet kept himself close because of Saul.'' --1 Chron. xii.
1
``Her close intent.'' --Spenser.
6. Disposed to keep secrets; secretive; reticent. ``For
servecy, no lady closer.'' --Shak.
7. Having the parts near each other; dense; solid; compact;
as applied to bodies; viscous; tenacious; not volatile, as
applied to liquids.
The golden globe being put into a press, . . . the
water made itself way through the pores of that very
close metal. --Locke.
8. Concise; to the point; as, close reasoning. ``Where the
original is close no version can reach it in the same
compass.'' --Dryden.
9. Adjoining; near; either in space; time, or thought; --
often followed by to.
Plant the spring crocuses close to a wall.
--Mortimer.
The thought of the Man of sorrows seemed a very
close thing -- not a faint hearsay. --G. Eliot.
10. Short; as, to cut grass or hair close.
11. Intimate; familiar; confidential.
League with you I seek And mutual amity, so strait,
so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with
me. --Milton.
12. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; as, a close vote.
``A close contest.'' --Prescott.
13. Difficult to obtain; as, money is close. --Bartlett.
14. Parsimonious; stingy. ``A crusty old fellow, as close as
a vise.'' --Hawthorne.
15. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact;
strict; as, a close translation. --Locke.
16. Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating;
strict; not wandering; as, a close observer.
17. (Phon.) Uttered with a relatively contracted opening of
the mouth, as certain sounds of e and o in French,
Italian, and German; -- opposed to open.
{Close borough}. See under {Borough}.
{Close breeding}. See under {Breeding}.
{Close communion}, communion in the Lord's supper, restricted
to those who have received baptism by immersion.
{Close corporation}, a body or corporation which fills its
own vacancies.
{Close fertilization}. (Bot.) See {Fertilization}.
{Close harmony} (Mus.), compact harmony, in which the tones
composing each chord are not widely distributed over
several octaves.
{Close time}, a fixed period during which killing game or
catching certain fish is prohibited by law.
{Close vowel} (Pron.), a vowel which is pronounced with a
diminished aperture of the lips, or with contraction of
the cavity of the mouth.
{Close to the wind} (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point
from which the wind blows as it is possible to sail;
closehauled; -- said of a vessel.