Word of the Day for Tuesday July 16, 2002:
immure \ih-MYUR\, transitive verb:
1. To enclose within walls, or as if within walls; hence, to
shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.
2. To build into a wall.
3. To entomb in a wall.
Not surprisingly, Sally shuddered at the thought of being
immured in the black cave, to die slowly and hopelessly,
far below the sunny hillside.
--Peter Pierce, "The Fiction of Gabrielle Lord," Australian
Literary Studies, October 1999
True, there was a Mughal emperor in Delhi until 1857, but
he was emperor in name only, the shadow of a memory,
described by Lord Macaulay as 'a mock sovereign immured in
a gorgeous state prison'.
--Anthony Read, [1]The Proudest Day
When I tried to think clearly about this, I felt that my
mind was immured, that it couldn't expand in any direction.
--Andrew Solomon, [2]The Noonday Demon
Immured by privilege in a way of life that offered little
scope, army wives were often enfeebled by boredom.
--Frances Spalding, [3]Duncan Grant: A Biography
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Immure comes from Medieval Latin immurare, from Latin in-,
"in" + murus, "wall." It is related to mural, a painting
applied to a wall.
Synonyms: cloister; imprison; incarcerate. [4]Find more at
Thesaurus.com. |
