📖 Meaning
To shut doors and seal up openings. It describes taking extremely strict precautions or shutting oneself away completely from the outside world. Often used to convey deliberate seclusion or defensive isolation.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom traces back to the related phrase '闭门塞窦' (close doors and block holes). It is recorded in Tang dynasty writer Li Fuyan's '续玄怪录·张庚' (Continued Records of the Mysterious and Strange), where the line reads '闭门塞户，羞见吾徒'—shutting oneself away out of shame at facing one's peers. The expression emphasizes hermetic seclusion, originally motivated by embarrassment but later generalized to mean sealing oneself off for any reason.
💡 Example Usage
他闭门塞户，整日不见客。
He shut his doors and sealed himself off, refusing to see visitors all day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 闭门塞户
- Pinyin: bì kǒu sè hù
- Literal Translation: close, door, block up, doorway
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4