📖 Meaning
To bolt the doors and shut up one's house tight. It describes a scene where all households have closed and barred their doors for the night, leaving the streets quiet and deserted. Often used to depict a still, nighttime atmosphere.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase comes from the Qing dynasty novel 'Five Tigers Campaign to the West' (五虎征西) by Li Yutang, chapter 67. In the scene, characters wait until sunset, eat dinner, then travel on foot with eight soldiers to Tianwang Temple. By the second watch of the night (around 9–11 PM), the surrounding households had all bolted their doors and closed up, leaving the courtyards silent and still. The phrase thus evokes a quiet, shuttered nighttime setting.
💡 Example Usage
夜深了，街巷里早已闩门闭户，连半个人影也看不见。
It was late, and every house in the alleys had long since bolted its doors and shut tight, not a single soul to be seen.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 闩门闭户
- Pinyin: shuān mén bì hù
- Literal Translation: bolt, door, close, household
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4