Idiom
go into one's shell
Meaning
To act defensively.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He tends to go into his shell when he meets new people.”
“Whenever the manager starts criticizing her work, she goes into her shell and stops participating in the meeting.”
“Rather than defending his controversial theory against the aggressive questioning, the professor simply went into his shell and refused to speak further.”
Examples
simple
“He tends to go into his shell when he meets new people.”
contextual
“Whenever the manager starts criticizing her work, she goes into her shell and stops participating in the meeting.”
complex
“Rather than defending his controversial theory against the aggressive questioning, the professor simply went into his shell and refused to speak further.”
Origin
Derived from the defensive behaviour of the turtle, which retreats into its carapace when threatened. The image transitioned into English to describe a person who withdraws from social interaction or adopts a protective silence.
Key words
Related idioms
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