资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Breeding \Breed"ing\, n.
   1. The act or process of generating or bearing.

   2. The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals;
      as, farmers should pay attention to breeding.

   3. Nurture; education; formation of manners.

            She had her breeding at my father's charge. --Shak.

   4. Deportment or behavior in the external offices and
      decorums of social life; manners; knowledge of, or
      training in, the ceremonies, or polite observances of
      society.

            Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and
            respect which civility obliges us either to express
            or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we
            converse.                             --Hume.

   5. Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.]

            Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. --Shak.

   {Close breeding}, {In and in breeding}, breeding from a male
      and female from the same parentage.

   {Cross breeding}, breeding from a male and female of
      different lineage.

   {Good breeding}, politeness; genteel deportment.

   Syn: Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See
        {Education}.

Close \Close\, a. [Compar. {Closer}; superl. {Closest}.] [Of. &
   F. clos, p. p. of clore. See {Close}, v. t.]
   1. Shut fast; closed; tight; as, a close box.

            From a close bower this dainty music flowed.
                                                  --Dryden.

   2. Narrow; confined; as, a close alley; close quarters. ``A
      close prison.'' --Dickens.

   3. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a
      feeling of lassitude; -- said of the air, weather, etc.

            If the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and
            doors, the one maketh the air close, . . . and the
            other maketh it exceeding unequal.    --Bacon.

   4. Strictly confined; carefully quarded; as, a close
      prisoner.

   5. Out of the way observation; secluded; secret; hidden. ``He
      yet kept himself close because of Saul.'' --1 Chron. xii.
      1

            ``Her close intent.''                 --Spenser.

   6. Disposed to keep secrets; secretive; reticent. ``For
      servecy, no lady closer.'' --Shak.

   7. Having the parts near each other; dense; solid; compact;
      as applied to bodies; viscous; tenacious; not volatile, as
      applied to liquids.

            The golden globe being put into a press, . . . the
            water made itself way through the pores of that very
            close metal.                          --Locke.

   8. Concise; to the point; as, close reasoning. ``Where the
      original is close no version can reach it in the same
      compass.'' --Dryden.

   9. Adjoining; near; either in space; time, or thought; --
      often followed by to.

            Plant the spring crocuses close to a wall.
                                                  --Mortimer.

            The thought of the Man of sorrows seemed a very
            close thing -- not a faint hearsay.   --G. Eliot.

   10. Short; as, to cut grass or hair close.

   11. Intimate; familiar; confidential.

             League with you I seek And mutual amity, so strait,
             so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with
             me.                                  --Milton.

   12. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; as, a close vote.
       ``A close contest.'' --Prescott.

   13. Difficult to obtain; as, money is close. --Bartlett.

   14. Parsimonious; stingy. ``A crusty old fellow, as close as
       a vise.'' --Hawthorne.

   15. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact;
       strict; as, a close translation. --Locke.

   16. Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating;
       strict; not wandering; as, a close observer.

   17. (Phon.) Uttered with a relatively contracted opening of
       the mouth, as certain sounds of e and o in French,
       Italian, and German; -- opposed to open.

   {Close borough}. See under {Borough}.

   {Close breeding}. See under {Breeding}.

   {Close communion}, communion in the Lord's supper, restricted
      to those who have received baptism by immersion.

   {Close corporation}, a body or corporation which fills its
      own vacancies.

   {Close fertilization}. (Bot.) See {Fertilization}.

   {Close harmony} (Mus.), compact harmony, in which the tones
      composing each chord are not widely distributed over
      several octaves.

   {Close time}, a fixed period during which killing game or
      catching certain fish is prohibited by law.

   {Close vowel} (Pron.), a vowel which is pronounced with a
      diminished aperture of the lips, or with contraction of
      the cavity of the mouth.

   {Close to the wind} (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point
      from which the wind blows as it is possible to sail;
      closehauled; -- said of a vessel.