close up

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To close (remove a gap) completely or fully.

   • Some flowers close up at night to stay protected from the cold.
2. 2

   To move nearer together so that a gap is removed.

   • The crowd closed up and I couldn't get through to the train.
3. 3

   To enclose, confine.

   • In Sanʿa the Jews have been separated from the Mohammedan population for the last three hundred years, and closed up in a Ghetto apart from the main town.
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To shut a building or a business for a period of time.

      • We finally managed to close up the shop for the night at about 10 o'clock.
      • The car factory has closed up for the August holidays.
   2. 5

      Of a cut or other wound

      Of a cut or other wound: To heal.

      • With stitches, the cut should close up in a week to ten days.
   3. 6

      To become less 'open' or communicative

      To become less 'open' or communicative; to shrink back.

      • to close up emotionally
   4. 7

      To stop talking.

The neighborhood