VMS Help TCPIP Services, Programming Interfaces, Sockets API, close(), Description  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    This function deletes a descriptor from the per-process object
    (Compaq C structure) reference table. Associated TCP connections
    close first.
    If a call to the connect() function fails for a connection mode
    socket, applications should use close() to deallocate the socket
    and descriptor.
    Related Functions
    See also accept(), socket(),  and write().