Middle English Dictionary Entry

clōs n.
Quotations: Show all Hide all

Entry Info

Forms clōs n. Also close, cloce, closse, cloise. Pl. clōses, clōs.
Etymology OF clos & ML clausum, clōsum.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
An enclosed area: (a) a walled or otherwise fortified place; stronghold; (b) a courtyard or court; ~ garden; (c) the walled precinct of a cathedral, church, or monastery; a close; (d) a fenced farmyard; a pen; (e) a valley surrounded by mountains.
Show 29 Quotations
2.
(a) A piece of land appropriated to private use, such as a meadow or field, usually hedged or fenced; proper ~, private land or yard; kepen in ~, hold as one's property, own privately; (b) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 1.100].
Show 10 Quotations
3.
(a) A dwelling or apartment; the mansion of heaven, (Christ's) abode; (b) a recess.
Show 6 Quotations
4.
A wall or other fortification surrounding a city or castle;--also pl.; ~ dik, a moat.
Show 5 Quotations
5.
A protective container, such as a reliquary, the womb (of the Virgin); don in ~, to enshrine.
Show 3 Quotations
6.
Confines or bounds: (a) as confining; ~ of the flesh, the bonds of carnality; holden, kepen in ~, to keep (sb.) confined; (b) as offering security or salvation; a refuge or retreat.
Show 11 Quotations
7.
In prep. phrase: in ~, (a) in seclusion or hiding, concealed; holden (kepen) in ~, to remain in seclusion or hiding; also, keep (oneself) covered, guard [quot.Libeaus]; (b) in secrecy, secretly; privately; kepen in ~, to keep (sth.) secret, hold in confidence.
Show 13 Quotations
8.
(a) A gateway or gate; (b) a narrow defile or pass.
Show 4 Quotations
9.
(a) Straightened circumstances, straits, distress; (b) kepen in ~, to keep in check, restrain.
Show 3 Quotations
10.
The conclusion or end (of an action).
Show 1 Quotation

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • c1450 Mandev.(4) (CovCRO Acc.325/1)447 : Seint Petris frist is principalle, And than seynt Poules wiþout þe walle, Seint Iohn the Lateranense tofore, And then seint Marie church the more, Seint Laurence without the clois.
    • Note: New form: Also.. (?pl.) clois.
    Note: 'Clois' may be plural or collective here. See quots. a1450 (1st and 2nd) in sense 4. for examples whose verbs are plural. (The modern Italian name of church is "San Lorenzo fuori le Mura" = "St. Lawrence outside the walls".)
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 4., as the "clois" refers to the city wall(s) of Rome. Add to gloss: "also in name of a specific church in Rome."
  • a1500(a1450) Ashmole SSecr.(Ashm 396)52/19 : The fvme of appropred fumygacions..openeth the closes [Lambeth: closynges; Abbrev.: sparring; Hisp.: clausuris; L clausuram] of the brayn.
    • Note: New subsense for sense 2.
    Note: See DMLBS clausura n., sense 2.(e) = "closure, barrier, blockage, damming (of passage, watercourse, or sim.)" Bacon IX, 130: "ille suffumigationes aperiunt cerebri clausuram."
    Note: Gloss: "physiol. an obstruction of the flow of bodily humors through the brain."
  • (1479) Paston ()2.367 : Hery Warns says Jon Qwalle sall nott hafe Gyns close nore þe chyrche close, for he has taken hem to ferme; qwere-fore bott ȝe gyfe hym odurwas powere he wyll gefe vp all.
    • Note: Needed for date in sense 1.(c).
Note: The list of variant spellings in the form section may be incomplete and / or may need revision to accord with standards of later volumes of the MED.--all notes per MLL

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