shut

present singular third person shuts · participle present shutting · dialectal obsolete participle past shutten

1. To close, in various senses.
   1. intransitivetransitiveTo remove or block an opening, gap or passage through.

      Please shut the door.

      3 more examples

      The light was so bright I had to shut my eyes.

      They shut the road for the festival.

      If you wait too long, the automatic door will shut.

   2. intransitivetransitiveTo make or become unreceptive.

      He has shut his mind to new ideas.

   3. UKintransitivetransitiveTo close (a business or venue) temporarily or permanently.

      The supermarket shuts at eight o'clock.

      2 more examples

      They generally shut the museum each day at 6 pm.

      Lots of shops in the town centre have shut because of the recession.

   4. intransitivetransitiveTo put out of use or operation.

      We are shutting the phone lines at 9 pm.

      1 more example

      They shut the airport because of a bomb scare.

   5. intransitivetransitiveTo cease operation or cease to be available.

      Phone lines will shut in ten minutes.

   6. ergativeintransitivetransitivemore usually 'close'computingTo terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.

      Shut the file when you have finished reading data.

      1 more example

      This app has a bug: when you try to sort a large spreadsheet, it shuts.

2. transitiveTo catch or snag in the act of shutting something.

   He's just gone and shut his finger in the door!

3. transitiveTo confine in an enclosed area; to enclose.

   I shut the cat in the kitchen before going out.

4. transitiveTo isolate, to close off from the world.

   Now, sometimes in my sorrow shut, ⁠Or breaking into song by fits; ⁠Alone, alone, to where he sits, The Shadow cloak’d from head to foot Who keeps the keys of all the creeds, ⁠I wander, often falling lame, […]

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39

5. transitiveTo preclude, exclude.

   shut from every shore

   1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: shut out

6. colloquialSynonym of shut up (“to stop talking or arguing”).

   DD, what an idiot, please shut and quit distracting me with your drivel.

   1998 April 11, racerX66, “Speedvision Coverage”, in rec.autos.sport.f1 (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jul 2026

   2 more examples

   Yes, BT's caller ID *does* send CLI before ringing, that is the major advantage of it, but if you don't realise that there are TWO standards in use in the UK (Bellcore's standard is alive and kicking right here in good ol' UK), then please shut and stop spouting on about something you know nothing about.

   1998 October 13, S J Watkins, “Q. Sky digibox and Phone line”, in alt.satellite.tv.europe (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jul 2026

   now if you could produce any scholarly works that substantiate your rather uninformed claim, please do so. if you can't, please shut, because you don't know what you're talking about.

   2005 June 9, j r sherman, “Usenet Poets: 1999 [t o r m e n s h u m a n u m]”, in alt.arts.poetry.urban (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jul 2026

   Synonyms: shut up

7. participlepastsimple past and past participle of shut

1. Closed, not open, in any of various senses.
   1. not comparablePhysically sealed, obstructed, folded together, etc.

      A book lay shut on the table.

      4 more examples

      A shut door barred our way into the house.

      The door banged shut with a breeze.

      Pleas keep your mouth shut while you are eating.

      I had to shut my eyes against the light.

   2. not comparableNot available for use or operation.

      Phone lines are now shut.

   3. not comparableNot operating or conducting trade; not allowing entrance to visitors or the public.

      Banks are shut on bank holidays.

      1 more example

      The museum is shut for the Christmas holidays.

   4. not comparableNot receptive.

      He mind is shut to new ideas.

   5. especiallynot comparablehobbiesOf a club, bat or other hitting implement, angled downwards and/or (for a right-hander) anticlockwise of straight.
2. not comparablegovernmentSynonym of close.

   Synonyms: close

3. archaicnot comparablehuman sciencesSynonym of close.

   Whenever a syllable is formed with a long, that is an open vowel, they account the syllable long; and whenever formed with a short, that is a shut vowel, they reckon it short.

   1810, Benjamin Humphrey Smart, A practical grammar of English pronunciation, page 344

   Synonyms: close

4. archaicnot comparableArchaic form of shot (“discharged, cleared, rid of something”).

   When he asked her, she said, she thanked God he was dead, (the woman was glad to get shut of him) and said he died of an ague and fever.

   1813, Thomas Bayly Howell, Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors, page 507

plural shuts

1. The act or time of shutting; close.

   the shut of a door

   1 more example

   Just then returnd at ſhut of Evening Flours.

   1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

2. A door or cover; a shutter.First known use 17th century
3. The line or place where two pieces of metal are welded together.

plural shuts

1. ShropshireUKdialectalA narrow alley or passage acting as a short cut through the buildings between two streets.

   Synonyms: alley