shutter

[ shuht-er ]
See synonyms for: shuttershutteredshuttering on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a solid or louvered movable cover for a window.

  2. a movable cover, slide, etc., for an opening.

  1. a person or thing that shuts.

  2. Photography. a mechanical device for opening and closing the aperture of a camera lens to expose film or the like.

verb (used with object)
  1. to close or provide with shutters: She shuttered the windows.

  2. to close (a store or business operations) for the day or permanently.

verb (used without object)
  1. to close or close down: The factory has shuttered temporarily.

Origin of shutter

1
First recorded in 1535–45; shut + -er1

synonym study For shutter

1. See curtain.

Other words from shutter

  • shut·ter·less, adjective
  • un·shut·tered, adjective

Words that may be confused with shutter

Words Nearby shutter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shutter in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for shutter

shutter

/ (ˈʃʌtə) /


noun
  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

  1. 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)

  2. 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

  3. music one of the louvred covers over the mouths of organ pipes, operated by the swell pedal

  4. a person or thing that shuts

verb(tr)
  1. to close with or as if with a shutter or shutters

  2. to equip with a shutter or shutters

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012