Library / English Dictionary

SHUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: shutting   

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not open

Example:

the door slammed shut

Synonyms:

closed; shut; unopen

Classified under:

Adjectives

Also:

closed (not open or affording passage or access)

Antonym:

open (affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Used especially of mouth or eyes

Example:

his eyes were shut against the sunlight

Synonyms:

closed; shut

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

blinking; winking (closing the eyes intermittently and rapidly)

compressed; tight (pressed tightly together)

squinched; squinting (having eyes half closed in order to see better)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut

Example:

shut the window

Synonyms:

close; shut

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Cause:

close; shut (become closed)

Verb group:

close; shut (become closed)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shut"):

snap (close with a snapping motion)

slat (close the slats of (windows))

bang; slam (close violently)

shutter (close with shutters)

draw (move or pull so as to cover or uncover something)

roll up (close (a car window) by causing it to move up, as with a handle)

bung (close with a cork or stopper)

seal; seal off (make tight; secure against leakage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They want to shut the doors

Also:

shut in (surround completely)

shut up (place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape)

Derivation:

shutter (a hinged blind for a window)

shutter (a mechanical device on a camera that opens and closes to control the time of a photographic exposure)

shutting (the act of closing something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become closed

Example:

The windows closed with a loud bang

Synonyms:

close; shut

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "shut" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Verb group:

close; shut (move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The doors shut

Derivation:

shutter (a mechanical device on a camera that opens and closes to control the time of a photographic exposure)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Prevent from entering; shut out

Example:

This policy excludes people who have a criminal record from entering the country

Synonyms:

exclude; keep out; shut; shut out

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shut" is one way to...):

keep; prevent (stop (someone or something) from doing something or being in a certain state)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shut"):

curse; excommunicate; unchurch (exclude from a church or a religious community)

lock out (prevent employees from working during a strike)

ostracise; ostracize (avoid speaking to or dealing with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

shutter (a mechanical device on a camera that opens and closes to control the time of a photographic exposure)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“What! you were at it by candle-light last night, when I was at the club, then? Were you?” said Mr. Omer, shutting up one eye.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But to his surprise the rope tightened around his neck, shutting off his breath.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

"Oh, shut up!" Scott cried out through the darkness.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I have not shut an eye since the tragedy, thinking, thinking, thinking, night and day, what the true meaning of it can be.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, he’s shut up again in the cabinet; and I don’t like it, sir—I wish I may die if I like it.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But with all that, he minded people less and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Beyond, the plain sloped down to a thick wood, while further to the left a second wood shut out the view.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, nephew, keep close at my elbow, and have your eyes open and your mouth shut.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Shutting the door, he approached me and said in a smothered voice, You have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)