Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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CLOSE, CLOSS, adj. and adv. Meanings not in St.Eng. use. [klos, klɔs]

I. adj.

1. (See quot.) Known to our Abd. correspondents only.Sc. 1805 R. Forsyth Beauties Scot. I. 421:
Close weather; that is, when the snow lies so deep as to render it necessary to hand-feed their flocks of sheep.Ork. 1780 P. Fea MS. Diary (12 April):
A fine dry morning to 7 then a Closs Snow.

2. Choked up.Sh. 1898 Shet. News (5 Feb.):
Shü [pipe] wis dat closs 'at he wis juist gettin' what wan could see o' blue reek.

3. Constant (Edb.¹, Kcb.⁹ 1936).Bnff.² 1936:
I like my new job weel aneuch, bit it's gey close wark.Slg.³ 1936:
He was aye a close hearer o' Mr McGill's.Ayr. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs ll. 109–110:
An' tho' fatigu'd wi' close employment, A blink o' rest 's a sweet enjoyment.

4. Combs.: (1) close-bed, closed bed, "a kind of wooden bed, still much used in the houses of the peasantry" (Sc. 1825 Jam.²; Abd.², Fif.¹⁰ 1936); a box-bed. Sometimes also closed-in bed (Bnff.², Ags.² 1936); (2) close-cairt, — cart, "a farm cart with fixed shafts" (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); known to Fif.¹⁰ 1936; (3) close cap, the head-dress formerly worn by older or married women, consisting of a square piece of linen folded cornerwise and fastened under the chin (in contrast to the younger woman's cap, which was tied at the back of the head) (Abd.², Abd.⁹ 1936); (4) close-eared, close-luggit, applied to a cap: fitting snugly round the ears (Bnff.², Fif.¹⁰ 1936); (5) close-fit, close-fittie, with feet close together (Ags.² 1936; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., -fittie); (6) close-minded, secretive. Hence close-mindedness; (7) close-side, "the right side of a carcase of mutton, so called because the kidney at that side adheres more closely than at the left, which is called the open side" (Uls. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn.).(1) Hebr 1983 Norman Malcolm MacDonald Calum Tod 7:
She smelled her fingers as she lay in the deep dark of the closed bed.Ags.(D) 1890 A. N. Simpson Muirside Memories i.:
With this remark he disappeared round the old wooden, closed-in bed.Peb. [1715] A. Pennecuik Descr. of Tweeddale (1815) 82, Note:
To form an idea of a close bed, we may suppose it like a square-formed upright curtain-bed, where the place of curtains is supplied by a roof, ends, and back of wooden deal, the front opening and shutting with wooden doors, either hinged or sliding side-ways in grooves. The bottom, raised about 18 inches from the floor, is sparred.(2) Edb. 1793 G. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Midlothian 45:
Wheel-carriages are what are called the close cart, and the corn cart, both of light construction.Hdg. 1885 "S. Mucklebackit" Rural Rhymes and Sketches 238:
The cairts were to be new pentit too. . . . A gang . . . was to be startit on the closecairts the next day.(3) n.Sc. 1814 Anon. Illustrations North. Antiquities 423:
The ceremony of putting on the curtsch, or close cap, on the morning after the marriage, when the young wife is no longer entitled to wear the snood, or maiden cap, is still observed in the north of Scotland, and gives the matrons in the neighbourhood an opportunity of enjoying a scene of jollity and gossiping, from which those who may still wear snoods are very properly excluded.(4) Ags. 1845 A. Smart Rambling Rhymes 81:
Her close-luggit mutch towered aloft in its pride.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh i.:
The miller's buxom wife with her clear muslin close-eared cap.(5) Abd.¹³ 1910:
To jump "close-fit," i.e. with both the feet placed close together.(6) Sc. 1854 H. Miller Schools 214:
The reputation of being what they termed "close-minded".Dmb. 1846 W. Cross Disruption xxviii.:
Ye ha'e putten yersel' and me intil a pretty scrape wi' your confoonded close-mindedness.

5. Of fish: gutted but not fully split open. Cf. Lucken, adj., 2. (3). Hence dim. form closie, n., a fish, esp. a haddock, so treated (Kcd. 1963 Abd. Press & Jnl. (1 April)). Gsw. 1910 H. Maclaine My Frien' 30:
The smell o' close fish a' roon' us.

II. adv. Constantly.Sc. 1745 March of Highland Army in Spalding Club Misc. (1841) I. 284:
The comandant orders that . . . the doctor attend close at Leith.Rxb. 1825 Jam.²:
"Do you ay get a present when you gang to see your auntie?" "Aye, close."