shut English · revision 3099

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=gmw-pro *skuttjan}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃʌt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|shutten]], also shetten and shitten,^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) [[inh|ang|scyttan|t=to put a bolt in place to fasten a door]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gmw-pro|*skuttjan]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from the Germanic base of [[shoot]],^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*skeud-|t=to shoot, chase, throw]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is cognate with Old Frisian sketta “to shut up, obstruct” and Dutch schutten “to shut up, obstruct”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To put a lock, bar or bolt in place to fasten a door: about 1000, in Ælfric's ''Grammar''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The idea is of shooting a bolt across a door.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) From fastening with a bolt the verb came to mean moving a door or lid so as to close an opening, by the 13th century.^(Hoad 1986) Closing by folding or bringing together, as a book or the eyes, and preventing entry or exit are from the mid-14th century,^(Etymonline) as is ''shut one's mouth'', “to stop speaking”.^(Etymonline) The sense “to set free from”, by about 1500, survives only in dialect phrases such as ''get shut of'', “to get rid of”, from the 1570s.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The adjective, “closed”, is from 1474, in Caxton's ''Game and Play of Chess''.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Shut up!'' as a rude command to be quiet is from the mid-19th century.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Shutdown'' is from 1884, and ''shut-in'', a person confined by illness, from 1904.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – to bolt a door.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * mid-14th century – to close, and ''shut one's mouth''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1474 – adjective, closed.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1570s – ''get shut of''.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-19th century – ''shut up!''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1884 – ''shutdown''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To move a door, lid or window so as to block an opening; to [[close]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To fasten with a lock or [[latch]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To confine or keep out: ''shut the dog in''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To fold up or bring together the parts of: ''shut a book''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To stop operating; to close for business.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Closed; fastened.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[reshut]]

+ * [[shutdown]]

+ * [[shut-eye]]

+ * [[shut-in]]

+ * [[shutout]]

+ * [[shutter]]

+ * [[open-and-shut]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[shoot]]

+ * [[shot]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In dialect and colloquial use across Scotland, Ireland, England, America and Australia ''shut'' has many senses, among them “rid”, as in ''to be shut of''.^(Wright 1898)^(Etymonline) A different ''shut'', recorded from 1300, is a narrow passage or alley.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}