different between close vs pithy

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English closen (“to close, enclose”), partly continuing (in altered form) earlier Middle English clusen (“to close”) (from Old English cl?san (“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 *kl?w- (“key, hook, nail”), related to Latin cl?vis (“key, deadbolt, bar”), cl?vus (“nail, peg”), claustrum (“bar, bolt, barrier”), claustra (“dam, wall, barricade, stronghold”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ????? (kleís, “bar, bolt, key”), German schließen (“to close, conclude, lock”), Dutch sluiten (“to close, conclude, lock”). Partially replaced Old English l?can (“to close, lock, enclose”), (whence English lock).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kl?z, IPA^(key): /kl??z/
• (General American) enPR: kl?z, IPA^(key): /klo?z/
• Rhymes: -??z
• Homophone: clothes (in some dialects)

Verb

close (third-person singular simple present closes, present participle closing, simple past and past participle closed)

1. (physical) To remove a gap.
   1. To obstruct (an opening).
   2. To move so that an opening is closed.
      • 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.

   3. To make (e.g. a gap) smaller.

   4. 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.

2. (social) To finish, to terminate.
   1. To put an end to; to conclude; to complete; to finish; to consummate.

      • One frugal supper did our studies close.

   2. To come to an end.

   3. (marketing) To make a sale.
   4. (baseball, pitching) To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.

   5. (figuratively, computing) To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.
3. To come or gather around; to enclose; to encompass; to confine.

   • The depth closed me round about.

   • 1633, George Herbert, The Church

     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.

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

Synonyms

• (obstruct (an opening)): close off, close up, cover, shut, shut off
• (move (a door)): shut
• (put an end to): end, finish, terminate, wind up, close down
• (make (a gap) smaller): narrow
• (terminate a computer program): close out, exit

Antonyms

• (obstruct (an opening)): open
• (move (a door)): open
• (put an end to): begin, commence, initiate, start
• (make (a gap) smaller): extend, widen
• (terminate a computer program): open, start

Hyponyms

• autoclose

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

close (plural closes)

1. An end or conclusion.

   We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close.
2. The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.
3. (sales) The point at the end of a sales pitch when the consumer is asked to buy.

   Synonym: closer

   • 1983, Charles B. Roth, ?Roy Alexander, Secrets of Closing Sales (page 110)

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

4. A grapple in wrestling.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

5. (music) 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. (music) A double bar marking the end.
7. (aviation, travel) The time when checkin staff will no longer accept passengers for a flight.

Synonyms

• (end): end, finale

Antonyms

• (end): beginning, start

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French clos, from Latin clausum, participle of claud?.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kl?s, IPA^(key): /kl??s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /klo?s/
• Rhymes: -??s

Adjective

close (comparative closer, superlative closest)

2. (now rare) Closed, shut.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew chapter 8:

     There is nothinge so close, that shall not be openned, and nothinge so hyd that shall not be knowen.

   • 1830, Thomas Thomson (chemist) The History of Chemistry, Vol. 1, pp. 30-31:

     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...

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre, chapter 1:

     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.

3. Narrow; confined.

   a close alley; close quarters

   • a close prison

4. At a little distance; near.

5. Intimate; well-loved.
   1. (law) Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.
6. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.
7. (Ireland, England, Scotland, weather) Hot, humid, with no wind.
9. (linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.
10. Strictly confined; carefully guarded.

    a close prisoner

11. (obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.

    • He yet kept himself close because of Saul.
12. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced.

    a close contest

13. Short.

    to cut grass or hair close

14. (archaic) Dense; solid; compact.
    • 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

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

15. (archaic) Concise; to the point.

    close reasoning

    • 1690, John Dryden, Translations (Preface)

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

16. (dated) Difficult to obtain.

    Money is close.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

17. (dated) Parsimonious; stingy.
    • 1837, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales, Volume I: "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe":

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

    • 1852-1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House

      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.

18. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact.

    a close translation

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Locke to this entry?)

19. Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict.

    The patient was kept under close observation.

20. Marked, evident.

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

• (at a little distance): distant, far, faraway, far off, remote; see also Thesaurus:distant
• (intimate): aloof, cool, distant
• (articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate): open

Hyponyms

• thisclose
• ultra-close

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

close (plural closes)

1. (now rare, chiefly Yorkshire) An enclosed field.
2. (chiefly British) A street that ends in a dead end.
3. (Scotland) A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.
4. (Scotland) The common staircase in a tenement.
5. A cathedral close.
6. (law) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (street): cul-de-sac
• (narrow alley): See Thesaurus:alley

Translations

Descendants

• ? Irish: clós
• ? Welsh: clos

Anagrams

• Coles, coles, socle

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

close

1. feminine singular of clos

Verb

close

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of clore
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of clore

Participle

close

1. feminine singular of the past participle of clore

Anagrams

• socle

Middle English

Noun

close

1. plural of cloth

Portuguese

Noun

close m (plural closes)

1. (photography) close-up (photography in which the subject is shown at a large scale)

   Synonym: close-up

2. attitude

English

Etymology

pith +? -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??i/

Adjective

pithy (comparative pithier, superlative pithiest)

1. Concise and meaningful.
   • 1825, William Hazlitt, Elia, and Geoffrey Crayon, in The Spirit of the Age,

     Mr. Lamb, on the contrary, being "native to the manner here," though he too has borrowed from previous sources, instead of availing himself of the most popular and admired, has groped out his way, and made his most successful researches among the more obscure and intricate, though certainly not the least pithy or pleasant of our writers.

   • 1873 April 25, Obituary - Justus Liebig, in William Crookes (editor), The Chemical News,

     The following passage, which is exquisitely pithy and exquisitely modest, winds up the description:- "In this apparatus there is nothing new but its simplicity and thorough trustworthiness."

   • 1876, Rosina Bulwer Lytton, On the Gratitude we owe our Enemies, in Shells from the Sands of Time,

     IT was a pithy saying that of Lorenzo de' Medici, and true as pithy, that we are enjoined to forgive our enemies, but nowhere are we told that we should forgive our friends.
2. Of, like, or abounding in pith.
   • 1863, Theodore Winthrop, “The Heart of the Andes”, Part 2 – Introduction, published posthumously in Life in the Open Air and other papers,

     Must we know the torrid zone only through travelled bananas, plucked too soon and pithy? or by bottled anacondas? or by the tarry-flavored slang of forecastle-bred paroquets?

   • 1910, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Manual of Gardening, Suggestions and Reminders I: For the North, April,

     Parsnip.—Dig the roots before they grow and become soft and pithy.

   • 1911, Mushroom, article in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition,

     To summarize the characters of a true mushroom - it grows only in pastures; it is of small size, dry, and with unchangeable flesh; the cap has a frill; the gills are free from the stem, the spores brown-black or deep purple-black in colour, and the stem solid or slightly pithy.

Synonyms

• (brief and to the point): terse, concise, laconic, succinct

Translations