Free translatorFree translator
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Close to the wind   /kloʊs tu ðə wɪnd/   Listen
adjective
Close  adj.  (compar. closer; superl. closest)  
1.
Shut fast; closed; tight; as, a close box. "From a close bower this dainty music flowed."
2.
Narrow; confined; as, a close alley; close quarters. "A close prison."
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."
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." ""Her close intent.""
6.
Disposed to keep secrets; secretive; reticent. "For secrecy, no lady closer."
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."
8.
Concise; to the point; as, close reasoning. "Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass."
9.
Adjoining; near; either in space; time, or thought; often followed by to. "Plant the spring crocuses close to a wall." "The thought of the Man of sorrows seemed a very close thing not a faint hearsay."
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."
12.
Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; as, a close vote. "A close contest."
13.
Difficult to obtain; as, money is close.
14.
Parsimonious; stingy. "A crusty old fellow, as close as a vise."
15.
Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact; strict; as, a close translation.
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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Close to the wind" Quotes from Famous Books



... the morning, nearly dead, the life almost buffeted and worked out of me, I had barely sufficient consciousness to know the experiment was a success. The close-reefed foresail worked. The Ghost clung on close to the wind and betrayed no inclination to fall off broadside ...
— The Sea-Wolf • Jack London
... who was a good sailor, laid her course close to the wind, and with few tacks made her goal; which was the complete subjugation of this brilliant man. She was gay, sad, witty and wise; and there were moments when her mother looked at her in puzzled surprise. As for Warrington, he went from ...
— Half a Rogue • Harold MacGrath
... market quotations and invariably did so. He seldom made a mistake and never admitted the mistakes he made. His transactions were honest because his knowledge of the law was unrivalled and he knew to a hair how close to the wind a man might sail. As he never wasted a moment he occupied the time of waiting, in ringing up his broker and firing a barrage of instructions. This done he returned to the fireplace, consulted his own watch, corrected the mantelpiece clock ...
— Men of Affairs • Roland Pertwee
... reckoning we calculated that we were about thirty leagues south of the parallel of the Horn, and in longitude eighty-seven degrees west. We then boarded our larboard tacks and brought the brig as close to the wind as it was proper to lay her for a progress that should not be wholly leeway; but four hours after we had handled the braces the gale, that had not veered two points since it first came on to blow, stormed up again into its first fury; ...
— The Frozen Pirate • W. Clark Russell
... that he yielded the stick over to me, obedient as a child. I thrust it back in its socket, hauled sheet and fetched her up close to the wind outside the surges. . . . Without a word said, he turned to pointing out this and that inlet between the reefs where there seemed a ...
— Foe-Farrell • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch


Copyright © 2024 Free Translator.org