walling up
Bricking something shut
Walling up is the act of enclosing something or someone behind a wall, typically with permanent intent.
The phrase evokes bricking someone into a space—a method of execution or imprisonment in older times: The count was walled up alive in the castle dungeon.
Figuratively, walling up emotions means suppressing them completely: She had walled up her grief for years.
- bricking upSealing with masonry
- bricklayingConstructing with mortared blocks
- bulwarkDefensive fortification or safeguard
- sealingMaking impermeable
- sealing offBlocking passage entirely
enclosing · mortar · brick by brick · compartmentalization · barricade · entombing · buried alive · repression · defense mechanism · shutting out · veiling · masonry · immuring · avoidance · withdrawal · rampart · obscuring · partitioning
walling updemolition
Deliberate structural destruction
tearing down · opening up · demolishing · knocking down · breaking through
walling upopening up
Becoming less guarded
unsealing · unblocking · freeing · releasing · exposing
walling upfreeing
Releasing from confinement
releasing · liberating · letting out · setting free · emancipating
wall, walling, walled, walls, wallboard, walleye, wallflower, upping