Definition of "near" []

• To, at, or within a short distance or interval in space or time. (adverb)
• Just about; almost; nearly: was near exhausted from the labor; near dead after the assault. (adverb)
• With or in a close relationship. (adverb)
• Close in time, space, position, or degree: near equals. (adjective)
• Closely related by kinship or association; intimate: a near relative; a near and dear friend. See Synonyms at close. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Turkey-Buzzard Tom Bonney -- immediately claimed sanctuary in the jail, on the grounds that they had been near to -- get that; I think that indicates the line they're going to take at the trial -- _near_ to a political assassination."
• "An 'one chair I did see to: right in the bay, near Jennie, I set 'Leven -- I guess with just a kind of a blind feelin' that I wanted to get her _near_."
• "The world in which people were near -- _near_ -- to one another and loved each other, the world Donal had always belonged to even when he was a little boy, she now knew and lived in."