Word.ws English Dictionary

close quarter

/ˌkləʊs ˈkwɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)/

close quarter noun: any of several strong wooden barriers erected across the deck of a merchant sailing ship, having loopholes through which muskets could be fired to resist boarding attacks.

Noun

close quarter (plural close quarters)

  1. any of several strong wooden barriers erected across the deck of a merchant sailing ship, having loopholes through which muskets could be fired to resist boarding attacks

Forms of close quarter

pluralclose quarters

Origin of close quarter

Originally closed quarter (“section or area”).

Questions about close quarter

What does close quarter mean?
Close quarter means any of several strong wooden barriers erected across the deck of a merchant sailing ship, having loopholes through which muskets could be fired to resist boarding attacks.
What part of speech is close quarter?
Close quarter is a noun.
How do you pronounce close quarter?
Close quarter is pronounced /ˌkləʊs ˈkwɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)/.
What is the plural of close quarter?
The plural of close quarter is close quarters.

Words near close quarter in the dictionary

  1. close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
  2. close order
  3. close order drill
  4. close out
  5. close protection
  6. close quarter
  7. close quarters
  8. close range
  9. close ranges
  10. close ranks
  11. close reach

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: close quarter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “close quarter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/close_quarter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.