To immure means to enclose or confine someone or something within walls, often in a literal sense, like being bricked up in a dungeon, but it can also lean metaphorical – think trapping someone in a situation they can’t escape.  It’s got a deliciously dramatic vibe, perfect for tales of gothic intrigue or self-imposed isolation.

The word immure comes from the Latin in- (meaning “in” (duh)) and murus (meaning “wall”), so it literally means “to wall in.”  It slipped into English via Old French emmurer around the late 16th century, carrying a medieval flavor of castle keeps and secret chambers.  Picture a monk scribbling by candlelight, deciding someone’s fate with a quill and a stone wall – that’s the energy immure brings.

Brother Thaddeus, the monastery’s most insufferable know-it-all, had a peculiar habit of correcting everyone’s Latin chants – mid-verse, no less.  One frosty evening, the monks, fed up with his sanctimonious droning, decided to immure him in the abbey’s oldest wine cellar with nothing but a crust of bread and a particularly judgmental rat for company.  By morning, Thaddeus was chanting apologies through the keyhole, promising to keep his pedantry to himself if they’d only let him out to finish his turnip stew. 

N.P.: “Set It Free” – Buckcherry