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. put up the shutters
   put up the shutters 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 Words From

• shutter·less adjective
• un·shuttered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shutter¹

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

Synonym Study

See curtain.

Example Sentences

A boy wearing a face mask with the TikTok logo uses a mobile phone outside the downed shutters of a shop in Mumbai, India.

From Ozy

Photographer Frank Deschandol built a high-speed shutter out of an old hard drive because his camera’s own shutter would have been too slow to capture the moment.

From Popular-Science

When the cycle starts, the shutters on the top of the box are closed, which allows the reservoir that contains the muscle to fill with water vapor.

From Nautilus

The moisture causes the muscles to relax, which opens the shutters.

From Nautilus

When the coronavirus pandemic prompted Nasdaq’s operations to shutter offices earlier this year, it was not a completely unfamiliar scenario for staff.

From Quartz

Do they really not look around them when they hit the shutter, or is it all part of a ploy to attract more attention?

From The Daily Beast

So she heard the shutter click and said ‘Oh no’ and came jogging over at me.

From The Daily Beast

In his 2014 State of the Union address, Obama promised to shutter the prison built on Cuban soil by the end of the year.

From The Daily Beast

Is it too corny to think of Bailey capturing love with the click of a shutter?

From The Daily Beast

Blockbuster, which will soon shutter completely, was perhaps the most maddening retail chain ever.

From The Daily Beast

A very thin vacuum shutter forms a better interrupter of sound waves than a brick wall two or three feet in thickness.

From Project Gutenberg

She partly opened the wooden shutter again and pointed to an upper story of the opposite building.

From Project Gutenberg

And once Mother Oriole found, caught in the shutter, little threads of Hepzebiah's hair.

From Project Gutenberg

The umpire's first decision was usually his last; they broke him in two with a bat, and his friends toted him home on a shutter.

From Project Gutenberg

The next instant the click of the shutter in the camera announced that the prize was secure.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• curtain