to put (a door, cover, etc.) in position to close or obstruct.
to close the doors of (often followed by up): to shut up a shop for the night.
to close (something) by bringing together or folding its parts: Shut your book. Shut the window!
to confine; enclose: to shut a bird into a cage.
to bar; exclude: They shut him from their circle.
to cause (a factory, school, etc.) to end or suspend operations, services, or business activity: He shut his store, sold his house, and moved away.We're shutting the office for two weeks in June.
to bolt; bar.
verb (used without object),shut,shut·ting.
to become shut or closed; close.
adjective
closed; fastened up: a shut door.
Phonetics. checked (def. 2).
noun
the act or time of shutting or closing.
the line where two pieces of welded metal are united.
Verb Phrases
shut down,
to close, especially temporarily; end or suspend operations, services, or business activity.
to stop operating or stop the operation of (a machine): Did you remember to shut down your computer?
Also shut down on / upon .Informal.to hinder; check; stop from doing or saying something: He appeared on the talk show to shut down his critics.
Informal.to defeat or outdo:The team was able to shut down the offense.
to settle over a place so as to envelop or darken it: The fog shut down rapidly.
shut in,
to enclose.
to confine, as from illness: She broke her leg in a fall and has been shut in for several weeks.
shut of,Informal. free of; rid of: He wished he were shut of all his debts.
shut off,
to stop the passage of (water, traffic, electricity, etc.); close off.
to isolate; separate: an outpost almost completely shut off from civilization.
shut out,
to keep from entering; exclude.
to hide from view.
to prevent (an opponent or opposing team) from scoring, as in a game of baseball.
shut up,
to imprison; confine.
to close entirely.
Informal.to stop talking; become silent (often used as a rude command): Just sit down and shut up! I thought the neighbors would never shut up and let me sleep.
Informal.to stop (someone) from talking; silence.
Informal.(used to express disbelief or astonishment): You dated her in high school? Shut up!
Origin of shut
First recorded before 1000; Middle English s(c)hutten, s(c)hetten, s(c)hitten Old English scyttan “to bolt (a door)”; akin to shoot1
Instead, insurers refused to pay, and Century 21 is shutting down after almost 60 years in business.
Got interruption insurance? These companies found it’s useless in the age of COVID-19|Bernhard Warner|September 12, 2020|Fortune
A day after Shanghai Disneyland’s closure, Hong Kong Disneyland shut down.
How the coronavirus outbreak is roiling the film and entertainment industries|Alissa Wilkinson|September 11, 2020|Vox
Then on Sunday, Mayor London Breed shut down not just the Great Highway but the parking lots along Ocean Beach.
The Climate Crisis Is Happening Right Now. Just Look at California’s Weekend.|by Elizabeth Weil|September 9, 2020|ProPublica
Heeding the advice of public health experts, they quickly shut down businesses, enacted shelter-in-place orders, and built up testing and contact tracing capacity.
In defense of California|James Temple|September 4, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Major Hollywood movie studios largely shut down film production in March.
Will ‘Tenet’ revive U.S. movie theaters as it’s finally released?|dzanemorris|September 3, 2020|Fortune
And so it was that the federal government did not shut down just when we all had visions of sugar plumbs dancing in our heads.
Congress’ Gift That Keeps on Giving|P. J. O’Rourke|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He immediately tried to shut the window before saying anything else.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind|Brin-Jonathan Butler|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Over the years, several MPs have alleged cover-ups or suggested that investigations were shut down by senior security officials.
Victim: I Watched British MPs Rape and Murder Young Boys|Nico Hines|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But of course, the union was shut out of the process, according to spokesman George Atallah.
Roger Goodell and the NFL’s Path to Power|Robert Silverman|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Sit down and shut up” was how all important family discussions began and ended where the rest of America grew up.
Why 2016’s Hopefuls Are Hopeless|P. J. O’Rourke|November 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Frantically, she looked around for something to hold it shut.
The Saracen: The Holy War|Robert Shea
We stop the night at Henzada, and dine on deck, shut off from the night by a glass partition.
From Edinburgh to India & Burmah|William G. Burn Murdoch
There had been a meeting of the Committee, and the club was shut up.
The Way We Live Now|Anthony Trollope
I cannot tell you anything of the time I spent there, shut up in the gloomy castle; it was horrible beyond all words.
A Monk of Cruta|E. Phillips Oppenheim
She was shut up, and her manner appeared hard and ungracious while her heart was dissolving in emotions.
Household Education|Harriet Martineau
British Dictionary definitions for shut
shut
/ (ʃʌt) /
verbshuts, shuttingorshut
to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; closeto shut a door
to close (something) by bringing together the partsto shut a book
(tr often foll by up) to close or lock the doors ofto shut up a house
(tr; foll by in, out, etc)to confine, enclose, or excludeto shut a child in a room
(tr)to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
shut one's eyes toto ignore deliberately
shut the door on
to refuse to think about
to render impossible
adjective
closed or fastened
noun
the act or time of shutting
the line along which pieces of metal are welded
get shut oforget shot ofslangto get rid of
See also shutdown, shut-off, shutout, shut up
Word Origin for shut
Old English scyttan; related to Old Frisian sketta to shut in, Middle Dutch schutten to obstruct