Definition of "self-closing" []

• Closing of itself; closing or shutting automatically: as, a self-closing bridge or door.

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "The statement was in the context of best practices, and not really around whether self-closing tags are allowed in HTML5 or work in text/html."
• "Lars, I heard Mike tell us two different times not to use self-closing tags, so I know I got the quote right."
• "But I cited a specific case where a self-closing tag is in fact not allowed either in HTML4 or HTML5, and will not work as expected in all browsers."