Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Shut?

\Shut\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shut}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Shutting}.] [OE. shutten, schutten, shetten, schitten, AS. scyttan to shut or lock up (akin to D. schutten, G. sch["u]tzen to protect), properly, to fasten with a bolt or bar shot across, fr. AS. sce['o]tan to shoot. [root]159. See {Shoot}.] 1. To close so as to hinder ingress or egress; as, to shut a door or a gate; to shut one's eyes or mouth. 2. To forbid entrance into; to prohibit; to bar; as, to shut the ports of a country by a blockade. Shall that be shut to man which to the beast Is open? --Milton. 3. To preclude; to exclude; to bar out. ``Shut from every shore.'' --Dryden. 4. To fold together; to close over, as the fingers; to close by bringing the parts together; as, to shut the hand; to shut a book. {To shut in}. (a) To inclose; to confine. ``The Lord shut him in.'' --Cen. vii. 16. (b) To cover or intercept the view of; as, one point shuts in another. {To shut off}. (a) To exclude. (b) To prevent the passage of, as steam through a pipe, or water through a flume, by closing a cock, valve, or gate. {To shut out}, to preclude from entering; to deny admission to; to exclude; as, to shut out rain by a tight roof. {To shut together}, to unite; to close, especially to close by welding. {To shut up}. (a) To close; to make fast the entrances into; as, to shut up a house. (b) To obstruct. ``Dangerous rocks shut up the passage.'' --Sir W. Raleigh. (c) To inclose; to confine; to imprison; to fasten in; as, to shut up a prisoner. Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. --Gal. iii. 23. (d) To end; to terminate; to conclude. When the scene of life is shut up, the slave will be above his master if he has acted better. --Collier. (e) To unite, as two pieces of metal by welding. (f) To cause to become silent by authority, argument, or force.
\Shut\, v. i. To close itself; to become closed; as, the door shuts; it shuts hard. {To shut up}, to cease speaking. [Colloq.] --T. Hughes.
\Shut\, a. 1. Closed or fastened; as, a shut door. 2. Rid; clear; free; as, to get shut of a person. [Now dialectical or local, Eng. & U.S.] --L'Estrange. 3. (Phon.) (a) Formed by complete closure of the mouth passage, and with the nose passage remaining closed; stopped, as are the mute consonants, p, t, k, b, d, and hard g. --H. Sweet. (b) Cut off sharply and abruptly by a following consonant in the same syllable, as the English short vowels, [a^], [e^], [i^], [o^], [u^], always are.
\Shut\, n. The act or time of shutting; close; as, the shut of a door. Just then returned at shut of evening flowers. --Milton. 2. A door or cover; a shutter. [Obs.] --Sir I. Newton. 3. The line or place where two pieces of metal are united by welding. {Cold shut}, the imperfection in a casting caused by the flowing of liquid metal upon partially chilled metal; also, the imperfect weld in a forging caused by the inadequate heat of one surface under working.