1871, the French word for "closure, the action of closing," applied to debates in the French Assembly ("action of closing (debate) by will of a majority"), then to the House of Commons and U.S. Congress, from French clôture, from Old French closture (see closure). It was especially used in English by those opposed to the tactic.
In foreign countries the Clôture has been used notoriously to barricade up a majority against the "pestilent" criticism of a minority, and in this country every "whip" and force is employed by the majority to re-assert its continued supremacy and to keep its ranks intact whenever attacked. How this one-sided struggle to maintain solidarity can be construed into "good for all" is inexplicable in the sense uttered. ["The clôture and the Recent Debate, a Letter to Sir J. Lubbock," London, 1882]
A vote of a legislature used to stop debate on an issue and put the issue to a vote. (See filibuster.)
in parliamentary procedure, method for ending debate and securing an immediate vote on a measure that is before a deliberative body, even when some members wish to continue the debate. Provision for invoking cloture was made in the British House of Commons in 1882, with the requirement that such a motion could carry only if it received at least 100 affirmative votes.