box someone in
Meaning: Restricted; to restrict someone.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Built on the plain, literal sense of "boxed" — enclosed on every side, the way an object placed inside a box has no room to move — a sense documented in English since the 1490s. Applied to a person or a vehicle, being "boxed in" describes exactly that kind of physical confinement: hemmed in on all sides by other people, cars, or obstacles, with no clear direction left open to move through. The figurative extension, feeling boxed in by circumstances, expectations, or a lack of options, follows the same logic without needing any more specialized source.
More idioms — Daily Life
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More English idioms
- bring down the house — To be a great success.
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