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shut up shop

vb. 1 (context intransitive cricket English) To bat defensively in the last innings of a match in order to force a draw when winning is not possible. 2 (context intransitive British English) To close up shop; to end a business activity.

Usage examples of "shut up shop".

And if you listened, as the big iron trains rolled by, you could hear the rust flake off the old men's bones and snow through their bloodstreams to shimmer for a moment in their dying gaze as they settled for long hours between sentences and tried to recall the subject they had started on at noon and might finish off at midnight, when the two brothers, bickering, shut up shop and went away sniveling to their bachelor beds.

Thompson and David proceeded to shut up shop, David received the unpleasant news that he was to go across the river to Alexandria that afternoon.

For once, Fredericka was glad of this as she planned to shut up shop early and spend the afternoon as well as the evening at the bazaar.

Larry Crockett was getting ready to shut up shop and go home when there was a perfunctory tap on the door and Hank Peters stepped back in.

When the Cold War ended they shut up shop and left the field to the Yankees.

As the motorway men stumbled off to their cars and the Young Conservatives drove off nursing their wounds, Blott shut up shop and helped Mr Edwards to his feet.