shut Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut
    close.
    • Close the door
    • shut the window
  2. verb become closed
    close.
    • The windows closed with a loud bang
  3. verb prevent from entering; shut out
    exclude; keep out; shut out.
    • The trees were shutting out all sunlight
    • This policy excludes people who have a criminal record from entering the country
  4. adjective not open
    unopen; closed.
    • the door slammed shut
  5. adjective used especially of mouth or eyes
    closed.
    • he sat quietly with closed eyes
    • his eyes were shut against the sunlight

WordNet

Shut transitive verb
Etymology
OE. shutten, schutten, shetten, schitten, AS. scyttan to shut or lock up (akin to D. schutten, G. schützen to protect), properly, to fasten with a bolt or bar shot across, fr. AS. sceótan to shoot. See Shoot.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Shut; present participle & verbal noun Shutting
Definitions
  1. To close so as to hinder ingress or egress; as, to shut a door or a gate; to shut one's eyes or mouth.
  2. 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.
  3. To preclude; to exclude; to bar out. "Shut from every shore." Dryden.
  4. 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.
Shut intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To close itself; to become closed; as, the door shuts; it shuts hard. T. Hughes.
Shut adjective
Definitions
  1. Closed or fastened; as, a shut door.
  2. Rid; clear; free; as, to get shut of a person. Now dialectical or local, Eng. & U.S. L'Estrange.
  3. (Phon.) (a) Formed by complete closure of the mouth passage, and with the nose passage remaining closed; stopped, as are the mute consonants, p, t, k, b, d, and hard g. H. Sweet. (b) Cut off sharply and abruptly by a following consonant in the same syllable, as the English short vowels, &acr;, &ecr;, &icr;, &ocr;, &urcr;, always are.
Shut noun
Definitions
  1. The act or time of shutting; close; as, the shut of a door.
    Just then returned at shut of evening flowers. Milton.
  2. A door or cover; a shutter. Obs. Sir I. Newton.
  3. The line or place where two pieces of metal are united by welding.

Webster 1913