To shut always has the general meaning of “to close” that appears in all phrasal verbs that begin with this verb. Just look at shut off , for example, or the famous shut up . So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if we say that shut away has this meaning of “to close off” or “to close someone” or “something”. But let’s look at it in more detail.
1 – To shut oneself away is to “close oneself” in the sense of “isolating oneself from others”. If you are always “shut in your room”, we can say: you’re always shut away in your room .
He
shut himself away in his room to study .
Do
n’t shut yourself away all day in your room .
Depressed
and ill, he had again shut himself away in his darkened studio.
Mary
always shuts herself away in her room while she’s working.
She
shut herself away in her room to work on her novel . (Note that the past tense of shut is also shut, following a common pattern with verbs ending in “t”.)
2 – Shut something away means “to hide” or “store/lock” something so that other people do not have access to it.
The
diamonds are shut away in a bank vault somewhere.
Victor
keeps his priceless wines shut away from prying eyes .
He has a shotgun that he keeps shut away somewhere in the attic .
3 – Finally, shut away can mean “to lock up” or “to imprison” someone. Note that shut away does not always refer to prisons, and can be used in the case of a child locked in a room, a woman locked in the attic, etc.
A
lot of people are classed as mad and shut away unnecessarily .
He was ten years old when he was shut away for stealing an apple.
He
was shut away for safety, as they said .
She
was shut away in prison for three years .
And there you go – that’s the verb shut away for ya