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The act of shutting; a closing; as, the closure of a chink.

To compress; to shut up. [Obs.] Burton.

rch; the last prayer of the day, to be said after sunset. The custom of godly man been to shut up the evening with a compline of prayer at nine of the night. Hammond.

The body of cardinals shut up in the conclave for the election of a pope; hence, the body of cardinals. It was said a cardinal, by reason of his apparent likelihood to step into St. Peter's chair, that in two conclaves he went in pope and came out again cardinal. South.

To shut up; to inclose. [Obs.] The very person of Christ [was] concluded within the grave. Hooker.

To restrain within limits; to restrict; to limit; to bound; to shut up; to inclose; to keep close. Now let not nature's hand Keep the wild flood confined! let order die! Shak. He is to confine himself to the compass of numbers and the slavery of rhyme. Dryden. To be confined, to be in childbed.

To shut the eyes to; to overlook; to pretend not to see. [R. & Obs.] "Divorces were not connived only, but with eye open allowed." Milton.

To confine in a coop; hence, to shut up or confine in a narrow compass; to cramp; -- usually followed by up, sometimes by in. The Trojans coopet within their walls so long. Dryden. The contempt of all other knowledge . . . coops the understanding up within narrow bounds. Locke.

An inclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different building; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley. The courts the house of our God. Ps. cxxxv. 2. And round the cool green courts there ran a row Cf cloisters. Tennyson. Golds…

town in the county of Warwick, England. To send to Coventry, to exclude from society; to shut out from social intercourse, as for ungentlemanly conduct. -- Coventry blue, blue thread of a superior dye, made at Coventry, England, and used for embroidery.

To shut up or confine in a narrow habitation; to cage; to cramp. If only the vital energy be not cribbed or cramped. I. Taylor. Now I am cabin'd, cribbed, confined. Shak.

To shut up or confine. [Obs.] Burton.

To shut up; to stop up; to close; to restrain. The strait pass was dammed With dead men hurt behind, and cowards. Shak. To dam out, to keep out by means of a dam.

. In modern painting this is usually in monochrome. -- Dead door (Shipbuilding), a storm shutter fitted to the outside of the quarter-gallery door. -- Dead flat (Naut.), the widest or midship frame. -- Dead freight (Mar. Law), a sum of money paid by a person who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full c…

A strong shutter, made to fit open ports and keep out water in a storm.

as if by a bar or barrier; to preclude; to hinder from approach, entry, or enjoyment; to shut out or exclude; to deny or refuse; -- with from, and sometimes with of. Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed Labor, as to debar us when we need Refreshment. Milton. Their wages were so low as to debar them, not only from…

To dispossess; to bereave; to divest; to hinder from possessing; to debar; to shut out from; -- with a remoter object, usually preceded by of. God hath deprived her of wisdom. Job xxxix. 17. It was seldom that anger deprived him of power over himself. Macaulay.

To shut up, as in a desk; to treasure.

ent to prevent inundations; a levee. Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised . . . Shut out the turbulent tides. Longfellow.

painting, and of transmitted and reflected light, and by contrivances such as screens and shutters, much diversity of scenic effect is produced.