Also, close the deal; close on a sale or deal . Complete a transaction, as in Jack was delighted to close the sale. This term applies to such transactions as the sale of a house, also put as closing on a house, as well as negotiations leading up to a sale. The latter was also put as to close a bargain, a phrase used by Charles Dickens and other 19th-century writers: "He closed the bargain directly it reached his ears," Nicholas Nickleby, 1838.