close to

close to (comparative closer to, superlative closest to)

1. (of quantifiers of nouns) Approximately

   It lasted close to an hour.

   It rained for close to forty days and forty nights.

2. (informal) Nearly; almost

   The project is close to finished.

close to

1. Near.

   The chair was close to the window.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 030:

     They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.

• coletos, coolest, ocelots