shutter

shutter (ˈʃʌtə)

—n
1.	a hinged doorlike cover, often louvred and usually one of a pair, for closing off a window
2.	put up the shutters to close business at the end of the day or permanently
3.	photog an opaque shield in a camera that, when tripped, admits light to expose the film or plate for a predetermined period, usually a fraction of a second. It is either built into the lens system or lies in the focal plane of the lens (focal-plane shutter)
4.	photog a rotating device in a film projector that permits an image to be projected onto the screen only when the film is momentarily stationary
5.	music one of the louvred covers over the mouths of organ pipes, operated by the swell pedal
6.	a person or thing that shuts

—vb
7.	to close with or as if with a shutter or shutters
8.	to equip with a shutter or shutters

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

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

shutter

1540s, "one who shuts" (see shut); meaning "moveable wooden or iron screen for a window" is from 1683. Photographic sense of "device for opening and closing the aperture of a lens" is from 1862. The verb is recorded from 1826. Shutter-bug "enthusiastic amateur photographer" is from 1940.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

shutter

in photography, device by which the lens aperture of a camera is opened to admit light and thus expose the film. Adjustable shutters control exposure time, or the length of time during which light is admitted. Optimum exposure time varies according to lighting conditions, movement of subject, and other factors and may be either selected in advance by the photographer or, in the case of automatic cameras, set by the camera itself on a signal from a built-in exposure-metering system. The mechanical shutter can usually be set only for indicated speeds throughout its range; some electronic shutters have a continuous operating range

Learn more about shutter with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Cite This Source

Example sentences

But when you press the shutter button on your digital camera, nothing happens.

For imaging experiments to work, the laser's shutter will have to be faster

than its detonator.

Ordinarily, when you take a photo in dim conditions, the shutter has to remain

open longer to absorb enough light.

Good beach photos often include silky-looking waves, a trick achieved through

slow shutter speeds.

Want shutter ad-free? Click here!

curtain diaphragm shutter iris diaphragm shutter roller-blind shutter rotary shutter shutter release

Image for shutter

Matching Quote

"When they sometimes
Come down the stairs at night and stand perplexed
Behind the door and headboard of the bed,
Brushing their chalky skull with chalky fingers,
With sounds like the dry rattling of a shutter,"

-Robert Frost