shut up

verb (used with object)

to put (a door, cover, etc.) in position to close or obstruct.

to close the doors of (often followed by up ): to shut up a shop for the night.

to close (something) by bringing together or folding its parts: Shut your book. Shut the window!

to confine; enclose: to shut a bird into a cage.

to bar; exclude: They shut him from their circle.

to cause (a business, factory, store, etc.) to end or suspend operations: He shut his store, sold his house, and moved away. We're shutting the office for two weeks in June.

to bolt; bar.

verb (used without object)

to become shut or closed; close.

00:10

Shut up is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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adjective

closed; fastened up: a shut door.

10.

Phonetics, checked.

noun

11.

the act or time of shutting or closing.

12.

the line where two pieces of welded metal are united.

Verb phrases

13.

shut down,

to settle over so as to envelop or darken: The fog shut down rapidly.

to close, especially temporarily, as a factory; cease manufacturing or business operations.

Also, shut down onupon. Informal. to hinder; check; stop.

14.

shut in,

to enclose.

to confine, as from illness: She broke her leg in a fall and has been shut in for several weeks.

15.

shut of, Informal. free of; rid of: He wished he were shut of all his debts.

16.

shut off,

to stop the passage of (water, traffic, electricity, etc.); close off.

to isolate; separate: an outpost almost completely shut off from civilization.

17.

shut out,

to keep from entering; exclude.

to hide from view.

to prevent (an opponent or opposing team) from scoring, as in a game of baseball.

18.

shut up,

to imprison; confine.

to close entirely.

to stop talking; become silent: I thought the neighbors would never shut up and let me sleep.

to stop (someone) from talking; silence.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English schutten, Old English scyttan to bolt (a door); akin to shoot

Related forms

half-shut, adjective

re·shut, verb, re·shut, re·shut·ting.

un·shut, adjective

Synonyms
1. See close. 4. jail, imprison, cage. 5. prohibit.

Antonyms
1. open.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To shut up

Collins

World English Dictionary

shut (ʃʌt)

—vb (often foll by up) , shuts, shutting, shut
1.	to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; close: to shut a door
2.	to close (something) by bringing together the parts: to shut a book
3.	to close or lock the doors of: to shut up a house
4.	(tr; foll by in, out, etc) to confine, enclose, or exclude: to shut a child in a room
5.	(tr) to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
6.	shut one's eyes to to ignore deliberately
7.	shut the door on
	a. to refuse to think about
	b. to render impossible

—*adj*
8.	closed or fastened

—n
9.	the act or time of shutting
10.	the line along which pieces of metal are welded
11.	slang get shut of, get shot of to get rid of

[Old English scyttan; related to Old Frisian sketta to shut in, Middle Dutch schutten to obstruct]

shut up

—vb
1.	(tr) to prevent all access to
2.	(tr) to confine or imprison
3.	informal to cease to talk or make a noise or cause to cease to talk or make a noise: often used in commands
4.	(intr) (of horses in a race) to cease through exhaustion from maintaining a racing pace

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

shut

O.E. scyttan "to put in place so as to fasten a door or gate," from W.Gmc. *skutjanan (cf. O.Fris. schetta, M.Du. schutten "to shut, shut up, obstruct"), from P.Gmc. *skut- "project" (see shoot). Meaning "to close by folding or bringing together" is from mid-14c. Sense of

"to set (someone) free (from)" (c.1500) is obsolete except in dialectal phrases such as to get shut of. Colloquial shut-eye for "sleep" is from 1899. To shut (one's) mouth "desist from speaking" is recorded from 1340. Shut up (v.) first recorded 1840. Shut-in "person confined from normal social intercourse" is from 1904. Shut out in baseball sense is from 1881 (v.), 1889 (n.).

Slang Dictionary

shut up definition

in.
to be quiet. : Shut up and listen!

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

shut up

Imprison, confine, enclose, as in The dog was shut up in the cellar for the night, or She shut up her memories and never talked about the past. [c. 1400]
Close completely, as in The windows were shut up tightly so no rain came in. [Early 1500s] This usage also occurs in shut up shop, meaning "close the premises of a business," as in It's late, let's shut up shop now. [Late 1500s] Also see close up, def. 3.
Cause someone to stop speaking, silence someone, as in It's time someone shut him up. [Early 1800s]
Stop speaking, as in I've told you what I think and now I'll shut up. This usage also occurs as a rather rude imperative, as in Shut up! You've said enough. [First half of 1800s]

Example sentences

When it was not sure of the answer, the computer simply shut up rather than

risk losing the bet.

If you have nothing to say, you might as well shut up for your own good and for

the good of the community.

Smart people shut up because continuing to talk has no point.

The carmakers' finance arms, usually good earners in bad times, have more or

less shut up shop.

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Idioms & Phrases

close up

Matching Quote

"One of the saddest sights of the slums is to see the thrifty wife of the working man, with her rosy brood of children, used to country air and sunshine, used to space, privacy, good surroundings, cleanliness, quiet, shut up amid the noise and dirt and confusion, in the gloom of the slum."

-Albion Fellows Bacon