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To change into, or use as, a consonant. "The vowel is consonantized, that is, made closer in position." Peile.

us had already begun to show itself . . . which was to shed a glory over the meridian and close of Philip's reign. Prescott.

f being crowded or pressed together; condensation. [Obs.] Fullness of matter, or a pretty close constipation . . . of its particles. Boyle.

A muscle which contracts or closes an orifice, or which compresses an organ; a sphincter.

A close union or junction of bodies; a touching or meeting.

To hold within fixed limits; to comprise; to include; to inclose; to hold. Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can not contain thee; how much less this house! 2 Chron. vi. 18. When that this body did contain a spirit. Shak. What thy stores contain bring forth. Milton.

Knit or woven together; close; firm. [Obs.] The coats, without, are context and callous. Derham.

the state of being continuous; uninterupted connection or succession; close union of parts; cohesion; as, the continuity of fibers. Grew. The sight would be tired, if it were attracted by a continuity of glittering objects. Dryden. Law of continuity (Math. & Physics), the principle that nothing passes from one state to…

A clay tablet on which was inscribed a contract, for safe keeping. Such tablets were inclosed in an outer case (often called the envelope), on which was inscribed a duplicate of the inscription on the inclosed tablet.

Abstracted; removed from close representation of nature by the deliberate selection of what is to be represented and what is to be rejected; as, a conventional flower; a conventional shell. Cf. Conventionalize, v. t.

Familiar intercourse; intimate fellowship or association; close acquaintance. "Conversation with the best company." Dryden. I set down, out of long experience in business and much conversation in books, what I thought pertinent to this business. Bacon.

A cart made close with boarde; a tumbrel. [Scotch]

A children's game in which one player is inclosed by a circle of others holding a rope.

A poisonous American serpent (Ancistrodon conotortrix), closely allied to the rattlesnake, but without rattles; -- called also copper-belly, and red viper.

A cap of paper twisted at the end, used by retailers to inclose small wares. Cotgrave.

A circle, usually colored, seen in peculiar states of the atmosphere around and close to a luminous body, as the sun or moon.

To surround and inclose; to coop up; to put into an inclosed space; -- primarily used with reference to securing horses and cattle in an inclosure of wagons while traversing the plains, but in the Southwestern United States now colloquially applied to the capturing, securing, or penning of anything. Bartlett.…

In the Middle Ages, a gown or basque of which the body was close fitting, worn by both men and women.

An open internal courtyard inclosed by the walls of a large dwelling house or other large and stately building.

ors through a series of lenses, with such illumination, etc., as will make the views most closely represent reality.