Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
An enclosure; a wall, a part, probably, of the Arabian desert, on the north-eastern border of Egypt, giving its name to a wilderness extending from Egypt toward Philistia (Gen. 16:7; 20:1; 25:18; Ex. 15:22). The name was probably given to it from the wall (or shur) which the Egyptians built to defend their frontier on the north-east from the desert tribes. This wall or line of fortifications extended from Pelusium to Heliopolis.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(a wall), a place just without the eastern border of Egypt. Shur is first mentioned in the narrative of Haggar’s flight from Sarah. ” (Genesis 20:1) It is also called Ethami. The wilderness of Shur was entered in the Israelites after they had crossed the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:22,23) It was also called the wilderness of Etham. (Numbers 33:8) Shur may have been a territory town east of the ancient head of the Red Sea; and from its being spoken of as a limit, it was probably the last Arabian town before entering Egypt.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
SHUR (fort), a place in the wilderness, on the south-west of Palestine, including the whole district between the north-eastern frontier of Egypt and the land of Canaan. " Num 33:8. We first read of Shur in the account of Hagar's flight, and this region later became the dwelling-place of the wild Ishmaelites. Gen 16:7; Gen 25:18. Abraham dwelt between Kadesh and Shur. Gen 20:1. It was over against Egypt. 1 Sam 15:7; 1 Sam 27:8. Some would identify it with Ayun Musa, 7 or 8 miles from Suez; but Trumbull supposes it to mean "a wall of Egypt," from the Great to the Red Sea. See Etham.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
wall; ox; that beholds