真的關進牢裡
這一支就是核心畫面的字面版：牆是真的牆，門是真的鎖著。
put in prison · verb · C1
To put someone in a prison, or to keep them in a place so they cannot leave.
監禁
核心畫面
One way to picture it: you put someone *into* a prison and the walls close around them. The key part of the image is not the punishment — it is the boundary. Wherever they turn, there is a wall.
把一個人放進牢裡，四面牆合起來。這個字的重點與其說是「懲罰」，不如說是「界線」——不管他往哪個方向走，都會撞到牆。所…更多收起
把一個人放進牢裡，四面牆合起來。這個字的重點與其說是「懲罰」，不如說是「界線」——不管他往哪個方向走，都會撞到牆。所以英文說 imprison 的時候，畫面裡一定有兩樣東西：一個被關的人，和一圈他跨不出去的邊界。記住這個「一圈牆」的畫面，第二個意思就會自己長出來。From the word’s history
From Old French emprisonner, built from en-/im- 'into' + prison. The word is literally 'to put into prison' — the prefix carries the movement inward, the root carries the walls.
來自古法文 emprisonner，拆開就是 en-／im-（進入）＋ prison（監獄）。字面上就是「把某人放進監獄」——前綴帶的是「往裡面送」這個動作，字根帶的是那圈牆。這也是為什麼 imprison 天生就是及物動詞：一定有人被送進去，不會單獨說 he imprisoned。
Wiktionary, 'imprison' (Middle English imprisonen, from Old French emprisonner; im- + prison)
Two branches
處境或情緒把人困住
把那圈牆從石頭換成看不見的東西：門沒有鎖，但人一樣走不出去。
trap, limit freedom · verb · C1
If a situation or feeling imprisons people, it limits what they can do, so they feel they cannot act freely.
困住
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
imprisonverb/ɪmˈpɹɪzən/
- 1
To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.
- One of the village's most notable sons was Thomas Grantham, a Baptist church leader born in 1634, who was persecuted and imprisoned in the struggle for nonconformist beliefs during the reign of Charles II.
- None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。