shut
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put (a door, cover, etc.) in position to close or obstruct.
- Antonyms:
- open
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to close the doors of (often followed byup ).
to shut up a shop for the night.
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to close (something) by bringing together or folding its parts.
Shut your book. Shut the window!
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to confine; enclose.
to shut a bird into a cage.
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to bar; exclude.
They shut him from their circle.
- Synonyms:
- prohibit
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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.
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to bolt; bar.
verb (used without object)
adjective
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closed; fastened up.
a shut door.
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Phonetics. checked.
noun
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the act or time of shutting or closing.
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the line where two pieces of welded metal are united.
verb phrase
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shut off
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to stop the passage of (water, traffic, electricity, etc.); close off.
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to isolate; separate.
an outpost almost completely shut off from civilization.
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shut in
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to enclose.
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to confine, as from illness.
She broke her leg in a fall and has been shut in for several weeks.
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shut up
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to imprison; confine.
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to close entirely.
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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.
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Informal. to stop (someone) from talking; silence.
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Informal. (used to express disbelief or astonishment).
You dated her in high school? Shut up!
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shut down
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to close, especially temporarily; end or suspend operations, services, or business activity.
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to stop operating or stop the operation of (a machine).
Did you remember to shut down your computer?
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Informal. Also shut down onupon to hinder; check; stop from doing or saying something.
He appeared on the talk show to shut down his critics.
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Informal. to defeat or outdo.
The team was able to shut down the offense.
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to settle over a place so as to envelop or darken it.
The fog shut down rapidly.
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shut of free of; rid of.
He wished he were shut of all his debts.
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shut out
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to keep from entering; exclude.
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to hide from view.
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to prevent (an opponent or opposing team) from scoring, as in a game of baseball.
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verb
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to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; close
to shut a door
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to close (something) by bringing together the parts
to shut a book
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to close or lock the doors of
to shut up a house
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(tr; foll by in, out, etc) to confine, enclose, or exclude
to shut a child in a room
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(tr) to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
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to ignore deliberately
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to refuse to think about
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to render impossible
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adjective
noun
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the act or time of shutting
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the line along which pieces of metal are welded
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slang to get rid of
Related Words
See close.
Other Word Forms
- half-shut adjective
- reshut verbreshut, reshutting
- unshut adjective
Etymology
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 shoot 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“At the same time, we can’t just give up and shut down and leave.”
Poland is seeking to decarbonise its economy and plans to shut several mines over the coming decades.
From Barron's
The report emphasised that the pilot decided to shut down the less damaged left engine during the crash, but it did not address the concrete structure housing antenna localisers at the end of the runway.
From Barron's
Forty minutes later, I shut my laptop, wondering what on earth had just happened.
From Los Angeles Times
On Sunday, Sports Business Journal reported that the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network is in jeopardy of shutting down if it cannot complete a sale to streaming service DAZN.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
