clost

clost pronunciation

/KLOHST/

Meaning

When mountain speakers say clost, they mean close in the near sense: clost to the house, watch him clost, the clostest store. An extra t lands on the end, same habit that gives you oncet, twicet, and acrost. It is not usually the verb for shutting a door. Folks still say close the gate.

How folks use it

• “Park the truck clost to the barn so we don't have to tote feed far.”
• “I watched them clost as I could while they worked on the fence.”

Origin and etymology

Appalachian and Southern pronunciation of close (near), with an added final t that dialect writers noted by the late 1800s. Smoky Mountain speech and Civil War letters both show clost and clostest. The pattern matches other regional forms like oncet and acrost.

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