My wife! my traitress! let her not come near me. Milton.

Near about the yearly value of the land. Locke.

Far and near, at a distance and close by; throughout a whole region. -- To come near to, to want but little of; to approximate to. "Such a sum he found would go near to ruin him." Addison.

-- Near the wind (Naut.), close to the wind; closehauled.

He served great Hector, and was ever near,
Not with his trumpet only, but his spear. Dryden.

She is thy father's near kinswoman. Lev. xviii. 12.

* Near may properly be followed by to before the thing approached'; but more frequently to is omitted, and the adjective or the adverb is regarded as a preposition. The same is also true of the word nigh.

Syn. -- Nigh; close; adjacent; proximate; contiguous; present; ready; intimate; dear.

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared, and neared. Coleridge.