締め切る
しめきる · shimekiru · JLPT N2 · verb-godan
to close
🔒 締め (shime, tight shut) + 切る (kiru, cut off): close it tight and cut it off
Used for closing a deadline or cancelling an event. 切る means cut off, so once a deadline is shimekitta, entries are cut off from further submission. 締め adds the sense of fastening shut.
切 — 七 (phonetic) + 刀 (knife radical)
切 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 刀 'knife' gives the meaning of cutting, while 七 supplies the sound. The original sense was to slice or cut with a blade. From there it extended figuratively to 'close to' (as in pressed against) and 'urgent/earnest', as in 切实.