immure
/ɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To cloister, confine, imprison or hole up: to lock someone up or seclude oneself behind walls.
Transitive verb
verb
To wall in.
Example Sentences
- "The gentlemen looked at each other for a ſolution of this ſtrange event, each preſuming an order had been obtained to again immure the unfortunate Clara."
- "[I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it could be no other than the body of their justly-boasted Pen-Dragon; and that he had been immured in that sepulchre by the spells of some powerful and implacable inchanter."
- "In a happy moment for the Levy-Lawson-Levis, Lady Lytton was betrayed, seized, and immured. The Editor saw his chance, and made the Metropolis ring with the outrage. Levi was saved; so also was Lady Lytton."
- "Immured in Heaven! What a Cell! / Let every bondage be, / Thou Sweetest of the Universe, / Like that which ravished thee!"
- "This rule is followed in all common-law jurisdictions, although it was not adopted by the House of Lords until 1932, and then only with vigorous dissent, in a case where a mouse was immured in a ginger-beer bottle."
- "Mattes creates a perversely sympathetic character: one who is so immured and immersed in his own self-pity/-hatred that his only connection to life is to dominate and control those with whom he connects."
Etymology
From Middle English enmuren and Middle French emmurer, both from Old French enmurer, from Latin immūrō, from in- + mūrus (“wall”). Modern spelling is modelled after the Latin.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: enmuren, emmurer, enmurer, immūrō