wall up
C1 neutral separable transitive
In simple words
Fill a door or window with bricks or plaster so you can't use it anymore.
Literal meaning: To build a wall upward to fill a space.
Meanings
1 C1 neutral
To seal or close an opening, doorway, or window permanently by building a wall across it.
"The old cellar entrance had been walled up decades ago."
Grammar: separable
2 C1
idiomatic
neutral
(Historical/literary) To imprison someone by entombing them inside a wall or sealed chamber.
"In the story, the villain walls up his enemy alive inside the castle dungeon."
"I had walled the monster up within the tomb!"
— Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Black Cat', 1843
Grammar: separable
Usage notes
Often used in historical and Gothic contexts, including the macabre idea of entombing someone alive (as in Edgar Allan Poe's works). Also used in practical renovation/construction contexts.
Commonly used with
doorway window entrance passage opening archway
Forms
Base
wall up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
walls up
he/she/it
Past simple
walled up
yesterday
Past participle
walled up
have + pp
-ing form
walling up
continuous
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Synonyms
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