close up

cerrar

Cerrar y asegurar un edificio o negocio al marcharse, normalmente hasta que vuelva a abrir.

En inglés sencillo: To shut and secure a building or business when people leave, usually until it opens again.

• We close up at six.
• She closed up the shop and went home.
• Have they closed up for the night?

Cómo se usa: close up for something (The café closed up for the winter.)

Sinónimos: shut, close

Antónimos: open up

Expresiones frecuentes: close up shop, close up for winter

cerrar, sellar

Cerrar algo del todo o hacer que desaparezca una abertura.

En inglés sencillo: To shut completely or make an opening disappear.

• The flowers close up at night.
• We closed up the hole in the wall.
• The opening closes up when you release the handle.

Cómo se usa: close something up (They closed the hole up with cement.)

Sinónimos: seal, shut

Antónimos: open up

Expresiones frecuentes: close up a gap, close up a hole

juntarse, cerrar filas

Acercarse unas personas o cosas a otras hasta dejar muy poco espacio o ninguno entre ellas.

En inglés sencillo: To move closer together until there is little or no space between people or things.

• The crowd closed up around us.
• Please close up so everyone can fit in.
• The soldiers closed up their ranks as they marched.

Sinónimos: bunch together, move together

Antónimos: spread out

Expresiones frecuentes: close up the ranks, close up together

cerrarse, cicatrizar

Dicho de una herida: sus bordes se unen y la abertura desaparece al sanar.

En inglés sencillo: If a wound does this, its edges join and the opening disappears as it heals.

• The cut is closing up.
• Her wound closed up after a few days.
• Has the small hole closed up yet?

Sinónimos: heal, seal over

Antónimos: reopen

Expresiones frecuentes: close up naturally, close up completely

cerrarse, retraerse

Dejar de hablar abiertamente o de mostrar los sentimientos, a menudo por sentirse herido o incómodo.

En inglés sencillo: To stop talking freely or showing your feelings, often because you feel hurt or uncomfortable.

• He closed up when I asked about school.
• She tends to close up around strangers.
• Why do you close up whenever we discuss your family?

Sinónimos: withdraw, clam up

Antónimos: open up

Expresiones frecuentes: close up emotionally, close up around someone

encerrar, confinar

Mantener a alguien o algo dentro de un espacio cerrado.

En inglés sencillo: To keep someone or something inside a closed space.

• They closed him up in a room.
• The animals were closed up inside a small shed.
• She feared being closed up between those stone walls.

Cómo se usa: close someone/something up in something (The prisoners were closed up in a dark cell.)

Sinónimos: confine, shut in, enclose

Antónimos: release

Expresiones frecuentes: close up someone, close up in something