shut

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“
She was quite certain that one door in her life was shut--shut forever.

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Definitions (67)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (16)

  1. transitive verb To move (a door or lid, for example) so as to block passage through an opening.
  2. transitive verb To block entrance to or exit from; close: shut a corridor.
  3. transitive verb To fasten with a lock, catch, or latch.
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Examples (50)

  • But as soon as the door was shut, his expression changed and his worry was clearly visible. —  Garwood, Julie - Rebellious Desire
  • Someone pinched my nose shut, and when I had to open my mouth to breathe, the water skin was snatched away. —  Robin Hobb
  • It had been laced shut, and the tied laces were secured with a large blob of hard red wax. —  Robin Hobb
  • I feel that I have committed an imprudence in venturing to Paris; but the barriers are now shut, and I must abide the event. —  A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795
  • The gates of the town are shut, and no one is permitted to pass or repass without an order from the municipality; and the observance of this is exacted even of those who reside in the suburbs. —  A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

shut:   shutting ·  shuts
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English shutten, from Old English scyttan; see skeud- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Also dial. shet; from Middle English shutten, schutten, shetten, shitten, schitten (preterit shutte, shette, shitte, past participle shut, shet, etc.), from Anglo-Saxon scyttan, shut, bar (=D. schutten, shut in, lock up, =Middle Low German schutten =Middle High German schutzen, German schützen, shut in (water), dam, protect, guard); a secondary form, literally ‘cause (sc. a bar or bolt) to shoot’ (push a bar or bolt into its staple), of sceótan (preterit scoten), shoot; or perhaps literally ‘bar,’ ‘bolt,’ from a noun, Anglo-Saxon as if *scut, a bar, bolt (cf. *scytels, scyttels, a bar, bolt of a door: see shuttle), =Middle Dutch schut, an arrow, dart, =Old High German scuz, a quick movement, =Danish skud, a bar, bolt of a door (the D. schut, a fence, partition, screen, =Middle High German schuz, a dam, guard, protection, German schutz, a dam, dike, mole, fence, sluice, protection. defense, is rather from the verb); literally ‘a thing that shoots or moves quickly,’ from Anglo-Saxon sceótan (past participle scoten), etc., shoot: see shoot.
  2. Pp. of shut, v.
  3. from shut, v.
  4. Also shutt; a variant of shot, shote.
 

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