shut
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.
to become shut or closed; close.
closed; fastened up: a shut door.
Phonetics. checked (def. 4).
the act or time of shutting or closing.
the line where two pieces of welded metal are united.
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
1synonym study For shut
Other words for shut
Opposites for shut
Other words from shut
- half-shut, adjective
- re·shut, verb, re·shut, re·shut·ting.
- un·shut, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use shut in a sentence
Her father cuts her hair, and she shuts herself off from the others.
She goes to church with her husband, but when the pastor asks to counsel her in private, she shuts him down.
The Good Wife’s Religion Politics: Voters Have No Faith in Alicia's Atheism | Regina Lizik | November 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOn the set, Bruce Willis goes into the bathroom and shuts the door.
Elmore Leonard’s Rocky Road to Fame and Fortune | Mike Lupica | September 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe audience in jail usually talks through the dialogue and shuts up for the shooting.
Prisoners Get Cultural Fix with 8-Tracks and Bootleg Cassettes | Daniel Genis | August 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe shuts down that performing part of himself, though of course it comes back in flashes.
The Stacks: Robin Williams, More Than A Shtick Figure | Joe Morgenstern | August 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Besides, as he quoted to Martha: "God never shuts one door but He opens another."
Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn RaymondThis lonely hill to me was ever dear,This hedge, which shuts from view so large a partOf the remote horizon.
The Poems of Giacomo Leopardi | Giacomo LeopardiWhen she shuts herself up, presumably to study her part in your play, half the time she is reciting her own lines.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonBut the family, that shuts itself within its own small circle, betrays its God-appointed function.
The Life of Mazzini | Bolton KingThe peculiarity of their beak consists in the lower mandible being considerably longer than the other into which it shuts.
In the Wilds of Florida | W.H.G. Kingston
British Dictionary definitions for shut
/ (ʃʌt) /
to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; close: to shut a door
to close (something) by bringing together the parts: to shut a book
(tr often foll by up) to close or lock the doors of: to shut up a house
(tr; foll by in, out, etc) to confine, enclose, or exclude: to shut a child in a room
(tr) to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
shut one's eyes to to ignore deliberately
shut the door on
to refuse to think about
to render impossible
closed or fastened
the act or time of shutting
the line along which pieces of metal are welded
get shut of or get shot of slang to get rid of
Origin of shut
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with shut
In addition to the idioms beginning with shut
- shut down
- shut off
- shut one's eyes to
- shut out
- shut the door
- shut up
also see:
- close (shut) down
- close (shut) one's eyes to
- close (shut) the door on
- keep one's mouth shut
- open and shut case
- put up or shut up
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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