shut
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
shut¹
- /ʃʌt/
- /ʃʊt/ Northern England
- /ʃɛt/ archaic, dialectal
Rhymes with -ʌt
Where it comes from
From Middle English schitten, schetten, from Old English sċyttan (“to cause rapid movement, shoot a bolt, shut, bolt”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan, from Proto-Germanic *skutjaną, *skuttijaną (“to bar, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *skuttą, *skuttjō (“bar, bolt, shed”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to drive, fall upon, rush”). The Modern English word was originally a dialect form; the Old English word would have normally merged with shit.
Cognate with Dutch schutten (“to shut in, lock up”), Low German schütten (“to shut, lock in”), German schützen (“to shut out, dam, protect, guard”).
verb shuts · shutting · shut · shutten
- To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. Please shut the door.
- To make or become unreceptive. He has shut his mind to new ideas.
- To close (a business or venue) temporarily or permanently. They generally shut the museum each day at 6 pm.
- To put out of use or operation. We are shutting the phone lines at 9 pm.
- To cease operation or cease to be available. Phone lines will shut in ten minutes.
- To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc. Shut the file when you have finished reading data.
- To catch or snag in the act of shutting something. He's just gone and shut his finger in the door!
- To confine in an enclosed area; to enclose. I shut the cat in the kitchen before going out.
- To isolate, to close off from the world. Now, sometimes in my sorrow shut, Or breaking into song by fits; Alone, alone, to where he sits, The Shadow cloak’d from head to foot Who keeps the keys of all the creeds, I wander, often falling lame, […]
- To preclude, exclude. shut from every shore
- Synonym of shut up (“to stop talking or arguing”). DD, what an idiot, please shut and quit distracting me with your drivel.
- simple past and past participle of shut
adjective
- Physically sealed, obstructed, folded together, etc. A shut door barred our way into the house.
- Not available for use or operation. Phone lines are now shut.
- Not operating or conducting trade; not allowing entrance to visitors or the public. Banks are shut on bank holidays.
- Not receptive. He mind is shut to new ideas.
- Of a club, bat or other hitting implement, angled downwards and/or (for a right-hander) anticlockwise of straight.
- Synonym of close.
- Synonym of close. Whenever a syllable is formed with a long, that is an open vowel, they account the syllable long; and whenever formed with a short, that is a shut vowel, they reckon it short.
- Archaic form of shot (“discharged, cleared, rid of something”).shot When he asked her, she said, she thanked God he was dead, (the woman was glad to get shut of him) and said he died of an ague and fever.
noun shuts
- The act or time of shutting; close. the shut of a door
- A door or cover; a shutter.
- The line or place where two pieces of metal are welded together.
shut²
- /ʃʌt/
- /ʃʊt/ Northern England
- /ʃɛt/ archaic, dialectal
Rhymes with -ʌt
Where it comes from
Variation of chute or shute (archaic, related to shoot) from Old English scēotan.
noun shuts
- A narrow alley or passage acting as a short cut through the buildings between two streets.
