closing out

Verb

close out (third-person singular simple present closes out, present participle closing out, simple past and past participle closed out)

1. (transitive) To terminate; to call the end of.
   • Lisicki recovered quickly enough and broke once again at 1-1, using her heavy to serve to dominate before a sweetly-struck backhand down the line closed out the set after 43 minutes.2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport
2. (transitive) Synonym of close (“to make a sale”).
   • Sales people are taught how to close out the deal. Buyers are less well trained but protect themselves with processes that stop the seller from reaching this stage.2017, Paul T. Steele, Tom Beasor, Business Negotiation: A Practical Workbook

   Synonyms:

   close

3. (intransitive) To settle, to pay what is due.
   • Much to the dismay of bartenders, many 20-somethings prefer to close out and pay after every drink, no matter how many beverages they end up ordering.2025 May 31, Paula Mejía, “Gen Z Doesn’t Want to Start a Bar Tab”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
4. To break all at once, instead of progressively along its length.
   • You either want to land on the top of the wave (if it has closed out), or in the transition2005, Pete Devries, “PD's Trick Tips”, in Surfing Vancouver Island, archived from the original on 11 May 2006
5. To terminate a computer program.

   Antonyms:

   open up

6. (transitive) To exclude by blocking all opportunities to enter or join.
   • Gerrard plainly had other ideas as he set off on that final, driving run into the opposition penalty area, slaloming between Kamil Glik and Grzegorz Wojtkowiak and getting his shot away as a third defender, Artur Jedzejczyk, and the goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, tried to close him out.2013 October 15, Daniel Taylor, “Steven Gerrard goal against Poland ensures England will go to World Cup”, in The Guardian

See all 8 meanings of close out