The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shut \Shut\, v. i. To close itself; to become closed; as, the door shuts; it shuts hard.
To shut up, to cease speaking. [Colloq.]
--T. Hughes.
Shut \Shut\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shut; p. pr. & vb. n. Shutting.] [OE. shutten, schutten, shetten, schitten, AS. scyttan to shut or lock up (akin to D. schutten, G. sch["u]tzen to protect), properly, to fasten with a bolt or bar shot across, fr. AS. sce['o]tan to shoot. [root]159. See Shoot.]
To close so as to hinder ingress or egress; as, to shut a door or a gate; to shut one's eyes or mouth.
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To forbid entrance into; to prohibit; to bar; as, to shut the ports of a country by a blockade.
Shall that be shut to man which to the beast Is open?
--Milton. To preclude; to exclude; to bar out. ``Shut from every shore.''
--Dryden.-
To fold together; to close over, as the fingers; to close by bringing the parts together; as, to shut the hand; to shut a book. To shut in.
To inclose; to confine. ``The Lord shut him in.''
--Cen. vii. 16.-
To cover or intercept the view of; as, one point shuts in another. To shut off.
To exclude.
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To prevent the passage of, as steam through a pipe, or water through a flume, by closing a cock, valve, or gate. To shut out, to preclude from entering; to deny admission to; to exclude; as, to shut out rain by a tight roof. To shut together, to unite; to close, especially to close by welding. To shut up.
To close; to make fast the entrances into; as, to shut up a house.
To obstruct. ``Dangerous rocks shut up the passage.''
--Sir W. Raleigh.
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To inclose; to confine; to imprison; to fasten in; as, to shut up a prisoner.
Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
--Gal. iii. 23. -
To end; to terminate; to conclude.
When the scene of life is shut up, the slave will be above his master if he has acted better.
--Collier. To unite, as two pieces of metal by welding.
To cause to become silent by authority, argument, or force.
Usage examples of "to shut up".
Hans picked up all the broken pieces of granite he had knocked out, and using some tow he happened to have about him, tried to shut up the fissure he had made in the wall.
The thranx were too polite to tell her to shut up, and Etienne had tried many times and failed.
I need you to shut up and listen to me, because histrionics aren't going to help, and neither is screaming at me!
She had begun whispering furiously to her lawyer, causing the judge to bang her gavel and order her to shut up.
In fact, she manoeuvered the car so easy and so fast, she made me a little bit nervous, telling me to shut up more than once.
Then I told him to shut up and listen for a change, and maybe he might learn something.
Those who are hungry, unskilled, jobless, homeless, or simply chronically unhappy, cannot be told to shut up.