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Origin and history of closed

closed(adj.)

"made shut, not open," c. 1200, past-participle adjective from close (v.). Closed circuit "complete, unbroken (electrical) circuit" is attested from 1827; closed shop "workplace in which only union members are employed" is from 1904; closed system first recorded 1896 in William James as "complete and unalterable system (of doctrines, etc.)." Later used in a physical sense, "system in which the total mass or energy remains constant."

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to closed

close(v.)

(klōz), c. 1200, "to shut, cover in," from Old French clos- (past participle stem of clore "to shut, to cut off from"), 12c., from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere "to shut, close; to block up, make inaccessible; put an end to; shut in, enclose, confine" (always -clusus, -cludere in compounds), from PIE root *klau- "hook," also "peg, nail, pin," all things used as locks or bolts in primitive structures.

Also partly from Old English beclysan "close in, shut up." Intransitive sense "become shut" is from late 14c. Meaning "draw near to" is from 1520s. Intransitive meaning "draw together, come together" is from 1550s, hence the idea in military verbal phrase close ranks (mid-17c.), later with figurative extensions. Meaning "bring to an end, finish" is from c. 1400; intransitive sense "come to an end" is from 1826. Of stock prices, from 1860. Meaning "bring together the parts of" (a book, etc.) is from 1560s. Related: Closed; closing.

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    Trends of closed

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    open
    Old English open "not closed down, raised up" (of gates, eyelids, etc.), also "exposed, evident, well-known, public," often in a bad sense, "notorious, shameless;" from Proto-Germanic *upana-, literally "put or set up" (source also of Old Norse opinn, Swedish öppen, Danish aaben,
    close quarters
    'closed' space on ship-board where last stand could be made against boarders" [Weekley]....Compare also closed-minded (1880s), a variant of close-minded, as if "shut" rather than "tight," also closed-fisted, occasional...
    stove
    The meaning "device for warming a room or cooking" is modern, recorded from 1610s; especially a closed or partly closed vessel...
    bake
    Old English bacan "to bake, to cook by dry heat in a closed place or on a heated surface," from Proto-Germanic *bakan "to...
    biennial
    The vowel change is "due to the Latin phonetic law according to which the unaccented and closed radical syllable of the second...
    post
    "a timber of considerable size set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and from Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," in Medieval Latin "a beam, rod, pole," which is perhaps from Vulgar Latin *por- "forth," a variant
    spot
    c. 1200, "moral stain;" by mid-14c. as "speck, stain left by something on a surface;" probably at least in part from a variant of Old English splott "a spot, blot, patch (of land)," and partly from or related to Middle Dutch spotte "spot, speck." Other cognates are East Frisian s
    stop
    Middle English stoppen, "obstruct (a passage) with a physical barrier; close up by filling, stuffing, or plugging," from Old English -stoppian (in forstoppian "to stop up, stifle"), a general West Germanic word, cognate with Old Saxon stuppon, West Frisian stopje, Middle Low Germ

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