shut
pronunciation
How to pronounce shut in British English:
UK [ʃʌt]
How to pronounce shut in American English:
US [ʃʌt]
-
- Verb:
- move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut
- become closed
- prevent from entering; shut out
-
- Adjective:
- not open
- used especially of mouth or eyes
Word Origin
- shut
- shut: [OE] Shut comes ultimately from the same prehistoric Germanic base (*skaut-, *skeut-, *skut- ‘project’) that produced English shoot, and its underlying etymological reference is to the ‘shooting’ of a bolt across a door to fasten it. Its immediate West Germanic ancestor was *skuttjan, which also produced Dutch schutten ‘obstruct’. In Old English this became scyttan, which if it had evolved unchecked would have given modern English shit. For reasons of delicacy, perhaps, the West Midlands form shut was drafted into the general language in the 16th century.=> sheet, shoot, shot, shout, shuttle
- shut (v.)
- Old English scyttan "to put (a bolt) in place so as to fasten a door or gate, bolt, shut to; discharge, pay off," from West Germanic *skutjan (cognates: Old Frisian schetta, Middle Dutch schutten "to shut, shut up, obstruct"), from PIE *skeud- "to shoot, chase, throw" (see shoot (v.)). Related: Shutting. Meaning "to close by folding or bringing together" is from mid-14c. Meaning "prevent ingress and egress" 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 Sense of "to set (someone) free (from)" (c. 1500) is obsolete except in dialectal phrases such as to get shut of. To shut (one's) mouth "desist from speaking" is recorded from mid-14c.
Example
- 1. Dozens of churches in indonesia have been attacked or shut .
- 2. They went to the guesthouse and shut the door .
- 3. You look cleverer when your mouth is shut !
- 4. Helen had snapped it shut automatically .
- 5. They seem to care little about others , shut down communication and indulge in their own worlds .