CLOSE QUARTERS

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does close quarters mean? 

• CLOSE QUARTERS (noun)
  The noun CLOSE QUARTERS has 1 sense:

1. a situation of being uncomfortably close to someone or something

  Familiarity information: CLOSE QUARTERS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLOSE QUARTERS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A situation of being uncomfortably close to someone or something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("close quarters" is a kind of...):

site; situation (physical position in relation to the surroundings)

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

 Context examples 

In the close quarters it was as though the three were together at table.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The dislike of the wolf for close quarters was his to an unusual degree.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Certainly the bullet had been discharged at very close quarters.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Risk factors include: • Age - it is more common in infants, teens, and young adults • Living in close quarters, such as in college dorms or military settings • Certain medical conditions, such as not having a spleen • Travel to areas where meningococcal disease is common

(Meningococcal Infections, NIH)

None of the others had met the Count at all at close quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And when they came to close quarters, and he had been beaten back by the club, he went on growling and snarling, and showing his fangs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)