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Seizure by, or grasp of, the hand; also, close quarters in fighting. Hudibras.

Close or near. Whose house joined hard to the synagogue. Acts xviii.7. Hard by, near by; close at hand; not far off. "Hard by a cottage chimney smokes." Milton. -- Hard pushed, Hard run, greatly pressed; as, he was hard pushed or hard run for time, money, etc. [Colloq.] -- Hard up, closely pressed by want or necessity…

Close-fisted; covetous; niggardly. Bp. Hall.

See Harmonic suture, under Harmonic. Close harmony, Dispersed harmony, etc. See under Close, Dispersed, etc. -- Harmony of the spheres. See Music of the spheres, under Music.

The song sung by reapers at the feast made at the close of the harvest; the feast itself. Dryden.

To close with a hatch or hatches. 'T were not amiss to keep our door hatched. Shak

shift to any point of the compass; -- said of the wind. -- To haul off (Naut.), to sail closer to the wind, in order to get farther away from anything; hence, to withdraw; to draw back.

A hedge; an inclosed garden or yard. And eke there was a polecat in his haw. Chaucer.

the head of a cane, a nail, a spear, an ax, a mast, a sail, a ship; that which covers and closes the top or the end of a hollow vessel; as, the head of a cask or a steam boiler.

A cap of defense; especially, an open one, as distinguished from the closed helmet of the Middle Ages.

zance of by the ear; as, to hear sounds; to hear a voice; to hear one call. Lay thine ear close to the ground, and list if thou canst hear the tread of travelers. Shak. He had been heard to utter an ominous growl. Macaulay.

To inclose in a hearse; to entomb. [Obs.] "Would she were hearsed at my foot." Shak.

To inclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to hedge a field or garden.

snath. -- Neck and heels, the whole body. (Colloq.) -- To be at the heels of, to pursue closely; to follow hard: as, hungry want is at my heels. Otway. -- To be down at the heel, to be slovenly or in a poor plight. -- To be out at the heels, to have on stockings that are worn out; hence, to be shabby, or in a poor…

the skirt about Was hemmed with golden fringe. Spenser. To hem about, around, or in, to inclose and confine; to surround; to environ. "With valiant squadrons round about to hem." Fairfax. "Hemmed in to be a spoil to tyranny." Daniel. -- To hem out, to shut out. "You can not hem me out of London." J. Webster.…

An inclosed place for keeping hens. [U. S.]

A genus of pretty spring flowers closely related to Anemone; squirrel cup.

Close by; very near. [Obs.] Shak.

Made perfectly close or air-tight by fusion, so that no gas or spirit can enter or escape; as, an hermetic seal. See Note under Hermetically. Hermetic art, alchemy. -- Hermetic books. (a) Books of the Egyptians, which treat of astrology. (b) Books which treat of universal principles, of the nature and orders of celest…

A disciple of Hermogenes, and heretical teacher who lived in Africa near the close of the second century. He ha