shut
//ʃʌt//
informalForms
- present (v1)
- shut
- past (v2)
- shut
- past participle (v3)
- shut
- present participle
- shutting
- 3rd person singular
- shuts
- Plural
- shuts
Definitions
1.To close, in various senses.
- He has shut his mind to new ideas.
- They shut the road for the festival.
- Phone lines will shut in ten minutes.
2.To catch or snag in the act of shutting something.
- He's just gone and shut his finger in the door!
3.To confine in an enclosed area; to enclose.
- I shut the cat in the kitchen before going out.
4.To isolate, to close off from the world.
1.Closed, not open, in any of various senses.
- Banks are shut on bank holidays.
- The door banged shut with a breeze.
- I had to shut my eyes against the light.
2.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.
1.The act or time of shutting; close.
2.A door or cover; a shutter.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1134
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English schitten, schetten, from Old English scyttan (“to cause rapid movement, shoot a bolt, shut, bolt”), 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.