immure
Americanverb (used with object)
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to enclose within walls.
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to shut in; seclude or confine.
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to imprison.
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to build into or entomb in a wall.
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Obsolete. to surround with walls; fortify.
verb
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archaic to enclose within or as if within walls; imprison
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to shut (oneself) away from society
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obsolete to build into or enclose within a wall
Other Word Forms
- immuration noun
- immurement noun
- self-immurement noun
- self-immuring adjective
- unimmured adjective
Etymology
Origin of immure
1575–85; < Medieval Latin immūrāre, equivalent to Latin im- im- 1 + -mūrāre, verbal derivative of mūrus wall ( cf. mural)
Explanation
When you immure someone or something, you put it behind a wall, as in a jail or some other kind of confining space. You may recognize the -mur- in immure as the root for "wall," as in mural, which is a painting on a wall, or intramural, literally "inside the walls," as, for instance, the walls of a school — intramural sports are played among teams from the same school. You don't need a jail to immure someone. Rapunzel was immured in her tower. At the end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the lovers are immured in the tomb.
Vocabulary lists containing immure
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The U.S. has had to learn--repeatedly, with every immigrant wave--that it cannot immure itself behind a wall of immigration restrictions and cultural purity.
From Time Magazine Archive
Other walls would immure Cobscook, the lower bay, 50 sq. mi. more.
From Time Magazine Archive
The U.S. has had to learn�repeatedly, with every immigrant wave�that it cannot immure itself behind a wall of immigration restrictions and cultural purity.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Your grandmother may immure me in this dungeon, and scare away my senses; but she will never rob me of my hopes of salvation."
From The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest by Ainsworth, William Harrison
Intern, in-tėrn′, v.t. to send into the interior of a country: to immure in an interior locality without permission to leave the district.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
