Definition

Verb (transitive) To confine or isolate someone or something in a place from which they cannot leave or be removed; to lock up or seclude.

Usage

This verb is used to describe the action of placing a person, animal, or object in a secure, enclosed, or isolated location, preventing escape or access. It often implies a deliberate act of confinement for safety, security, or punishment. The object being confined follows the verb.

Examples

• The valuable documents were shut away in a fireproof vault.
• Feeling overwhelmed, he shut himself away in his study to work.
• In the old tale, the princess was shut away in a high tower.

Advanced Usage

• "to shut oneself away": This reflexive form emphasizes a voluntary act of seclusion or isolation, often for privacy, focus, or to avoid others.
  • After the argument, she shut herself away in her room for the rest of the day.

Variants and Related Words

• Lock away: A very close synonym, often used interchangeably, with a stronger emphasis on using a lock.
• Shut up: Can be a synonym for confining a person or animal, but is also commonly used as an imperative to mean "stop talking," which can make it less formal.
• Seclude: To keep someone away from other people.
• Confine: To keep someone or something within certain limits.
• Imprison: To put someone in prison (a more severe and specific legal context).

Synonyms

Lock up, lock away, confine, seclude, imprison, incarcerate.

Phrasal Verbs

• Shut away is itself a phrasal verb. Its structure is separable: you can say "shut the cat away" or "shut away the cat."

Related Idioms

• To be shut away from the world: To be completely isolated from society or current events.
  • The remote cabin was a place where you could be shut away from the world.

Verb

1. place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape
   • The parents locked her daughter up for the weekend
   • She locked her jewels in the safe