Working on the wall

Doing construction work on walls used to be so freeing but I had to quit, I was feeling cornered Same word, two meanings literal cornered (trapped in a corner) physically positioned at or trapped in a corner during construction work figurative cornered (trapped, boxed in) feeling mentally trapped, confined, or pressured with no escape The word 'cornered' pivots between its literal meaning (at/in a corner of a wall) and its figurative meaning (feeling trapped or constrained), making the job quit seem motivated by emotional constraint. .