shut in

To keep someone or something inside a place so they cannot leave.

• Do not shut the cat in.
• She accidentally shut herself in the bathroom.
• We were shut in the house by heavy snow.

How to use it: shut someone/something in + place (They shut the dog in the kitchen.)

Similar words: confine, lock in

Opposites: let out, release

Common phrases: shut someone in, shut something in

To surround a place completely, making it feel closed off.

• High walls shut in the garden.
• The valley was shut in by mountains.
• Tall buildings shut in the little courtyard.

How to use it: be shut in by something (The village is shut in by steep hills.)

Similar words: enclose, surround

Common phrases: shut in a valley, shut in the garden

To stop oil from flowing out of a well, ending its production.

• They shut in the oil well.
• Several wells were shut in after the storm.
• Falling prices forced the company to shut in production.

How to use it: shut in something (The operator shut in the well after the leak.)

Similar words: halt production

Common phrases: shut in a well, shut in oil wells