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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.

To become less hot; to lose heat. I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus, the whilst his iron did on the anvil cool. Shak.

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.…

To become vitiated; to lose putity or goodness.

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.

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

Reserved; formal; close; cold. [Obs.] "A costive brain." Prior. "Costive of laughter." B. Jonson. You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, but without being costive. Lord Chesterfield.

the bend. When a single cottise is used alone it is often called a cost. See also Couple-close.

A person who closely resembles another.

A four-wheeled close carriage for two persons inside, with an outside seat for the driver; -- so called because giving the appearance of a larger carriage cut off.

See Couple-close.

An inclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different building; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley. The courts the house of our God. Ps. cxxxv. 2. And round the cool green courts there ran a row Cf cloisters. Tennyson. Golds…