shut (sb) up
informal— phrasal verb with shut uk/ʃʌt/us/ʃʌt/verb [ I or T ] present participle shutting, past tense and past participle shut
B2 to stop talking or making a noise, or to make someone do this:
I wish you'd shut up for a moment and listen to what the rest of us have to say.
Just shut up and get on with your work!
My dad never stops talking. It's impossible to shut him up!
figurative If you breathe a single word to the police, we'll shut you up for good (= kill you).
to stop someone from talking about a particular subject or from complaining or asking for things:
The kids kept saying how hungry they were, so their father gave them some biscuits to shut them up.
More examples
- I wish for once she'd shut up and listen to what someone else has to say.
- Once she starts you can't shut her up.
- In the end I gave her the money just to shut her up.
- I agreed with him just to shut him up.
- Don't you just want to tell him to shut up?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Interrupting & preventing from speaking
- barge
- butt in
- buttonhole
- chime
- chip in
- cut the crap! idiom
- heckle
- horn in
- interject
- interpose
- interrupt
- interruption
- mike check
- put a sock in it! idiom
- shut
- slap sb down
- sock
- speak
- speak when you're spoken to! idiom
- strike
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