shut
(shŭt)
[Middle English shutten, from Old English scyttan.]
verb: shut, shut·ting, shuts.
transitive verb
- To move (a door or lid, for example) so as to block passage through an opening.
- To block entrance to or exit from; close: shut a corridor.
- To fasten with a lock, catch, or latch.
- To confine in or as if in a closed space: shut them in a cage.
- To exclude from or as if from a closed space: shut the cats out of the house.
- To cause to stop operating: shut down a restaurant; a school that was shut for the vacation.
intransitive verb
- To move or become moved so as to block passage; close: a door that shuts by itself.
- To stop operating, especially automatically: The electricity shuts off at midnight.
noun
- The act or time of shutting.
- The line of connection between welded pieces of metal.
phrasal verbs
- shut off
- To stop the flow or passage of; cut off: shut off the hot water by closing a valve.
- To close off; isolate: loners who shut themselves off from the community.
- shut out
- To prevent (an opponent) from scoring any runs or points.
- shut up
- To cause (someone) to stop speaking; silence.
- To stop speaking.
idioms
- shut (one's) eyes to
- To refuse to consider or acknowledge: administrators who shut their eyes to pervasive corruption.
