What does encerrar in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word encerrar in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use encerrar in Spanish.

The word encerrar in Spanish means lock up, shut up, put, enclose, hold, contain, put in check, shut yourself in, shut yourself down, close yourself down, dig your heels in, dig in your heels, entail, involve, draw a circle around. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word encerrar

lock up

verbo transitivo (poner bajo llave)

(phrasal verb, transitive, separable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, divisible--for example, "call off" [=cancel], "call the game off," "call off the game.")
Salió huyendo pues los guardas querían encerrarlo en la cárcel.
He fled because the guards wanted to lock him up in jail.

shut up

verbo transitivo (poner en sitio cerrado)

(phrasal verb, transitive, separable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, divisible--for example, "call off" [=cancel], "call the game off," "call off the game.")
Encerré las cajas con la ropa vieja en un armario.
I shut the boxes of old clothes up in a wardrobe.

put, enclose

verbo transitivo (palabras,frases, textos)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Se puede encerrar esta palabra entre comillas, porque es un regionalismo que estás mencionando.
You can put (or: enclose) the word between commas, because you are mentioning it as a regionalism.

hold, contain

verbo transitivo (tener, contener)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Sus dichos encierran una gran enseñanza que no todos han querido comprender.
His sayings hold (or: contain) a great teaching that not everyone has wished to understand.

put in check

verbo transitivo (inmovilizar: fichas, piezas) (chess)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
No puedo hacer ese movimiento porque encerraría el alfil.
I can't make that move because I would put my bishop in check.

shut yourself in

verbo pronominal (aislarse en un lugar)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Daniel anda raro: en cuanto llega a la casa, va y se encierra en el taller. Ni siquiera saluda.
Daniel's acting strange. As soon as he comes home, he shuts himself in the workshop. He doesn't even say hello.

shut yourself down, close yourself down

verbo pronominal (ocultar: pensamientos, emociones) (informal)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Le pregunté si le pasaba algo pero se encerró y no quiso hablarme más.
I asked if something was wrong, but he shut himself down (or: closed himself down) and didn't want to talk to me any more.

dig your heels in, dig in your heels

verbo pronominal (América Latina (obstinarse en algo) (informal)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Se encerró en que no quería ponerse el vestido y no se lo puso.
She dug her heels in about putting on the dress, and didn't wear it.

entail, involve

verbo transitivo (conllevar, implicar)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Aunque no lo creas, la novela encierra una historia mucho más oscura.
Even though you don't believe it, the novel entails a much darker story.

draw a circle around

(rodear) (on paper)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
En este ejercicio, los niños deben encerrar en un círculo la respuesta correcta.
ⓘEsta oración no es una traducción de la original. Circle the answers that most apply to you.

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Do you know about Spanish

Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.