shutter

[shuht-er]

noun

1. a solid or louvered movable cover for a window.

2. a movable cover, slide, etc., for an opening.

3. a person or thing that shuts.

4. Photography.,  a mechanical device for opening and closing the aperture of a camera lens to expose film or the like.

verb (used with object)

1. to close or provide with shutters.

   She shuttered the windows.

2. to close (a store or business operations) for the day or permanently.

verb (used without object)

1. to close or close down.

   The factory has shuttered temporarily.

shutter

/ ˈʃʌtə /

noun

1. a hinged doorlike cover, often louvred and usually one of a pair, for closing off a window

2. to close business at the end of the day or permanently

3. photog an opaque shield in a camera that, when tripped, admits light to expose the film or plate for a predetermined period, usually a fraction of a second. It is either built into the lens system or lies in the focal plane of the lens ( focal-plane shutter )

4. photog a rotating device in a film projector that permits an image to be projected onto the screen only when the film is momentarily stationary

5. music one of the louvred covers over the mouths of organ pipes, operated by the swell pedal

6. a person or thing that shuts

verb

1. to close with or as if with a shutter or shutters

2. to equip with a shutter or shutters

Other Word Forms

• shutterless adjective
• unshuttered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shutter¹

First recorded in 1535–45; shut + -er ¹

Synonym Study

See curtain.

Example Sentences

Eastern on Friday and shutter at 2 p.m.

Read more on Barron's

Later, he shuttered most of his investing partnerships, joining Berkshire in 1978 as its vice chairman.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It closed due to pandemic struggles in March 2020 and remains shuttered.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But the mass arrests and fears of deportation turned the Fashion District into a ghost town for several weeks after, with storefronts shuttered and frightened workers staying home.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In late 2024, the Bureau of Prisons announced that seven facilities, including the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, would be shuttered.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• curtain