Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a private conversation.

2001

K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 126: It’s Lid. He’s had a shut-door about you. He’s just called me in, now.

see separate entries.

1. one who is forced to stay in a great deal or even continually, esp. due to illness and/or old age; also as adj.

1898		Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, NY) 12 Dec. 7/2: Many people now [...] are as thoroughly shut in — some by sickness, some by old age. [...] Today I address the shut-in.
1904		Prosp. Mass. Blind Associated 2: The lonely and the unbusy, the shut-ins in body and in mind [DA].
1928		Chillecothe Constitution-Trib. (MO) 20 Sept. 4/3: The shut-in, Old Man Pain [...] retired hoping to find relief in sleep.
1939		Wilkes-Barre Times (PA) 2 May 14/1: Two local women [...] confined to their homes by illness [...] Some of our shut-ins have needed clothing.
1948		Chesterton Trib. 28 Oct. 11/5: They will travel to the homes of shut-in members and sing several songs used on Sunday mornings [DA].
1951		Courier (Waterloo, PA) 16 July 17/1: Like shut-ins — prisoners and invalids — they chewed their mental fingernails.
1964		Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ) 17 Dec. 25/1: [headline] Shut-ins’ Need is Companionship.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 44: I was not in the mood to walk around all day, kissing ass, hawking room spray to shut-ins.
1985		Marion Star (OH) 20 Oct. 8/1: Marion Public Library [...] employees select material foir the shut-ins, and Guild members make the deliveries.

2. (US prison) a prisoner.

1921		Broadway Brevities Dec 13/2: We have sent Mr Posner [of Great Meadow Prison] another package [of Brevities], delighted to give a little pleasure to those poor shut-ins.
1951		Courier (Waterloo, PA) 16 July 17/1: Like shut-ins — prisoners and invalids — they chewed their mental fingernails.
1956		J. Blake letter 21 Nov. in Joint (1972) 96: Tomorrow I split for Florida, to meet a former fellow shut-in.
2002		Philadelpia Inquirer (PA) 1 May P20/5: People could receive jubilee indulgence [...] by visiting shut-ins, prisoners or others.

(US black) to keep quiet.

1961

R. Gover One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding 107: She say, Hey, Kitten, wha’s this fer? An I jes shut ass right up tight.

1. (US black) to leave someone bereft of repartee.

1968		Current Sl. III:1 12: Shut down, v. To put down, to strike speechless.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 shut down Definition: [...] 2. to be ripped on, and not have a come back. Example: God damn!! You got shut down!!
2015		‘Elvis Costello’ Unfaithful Music 255: The producer [...] attempted to give me a dressing-down for Pete having ruined the illusion of a live performance with his daft prank. I shut him down immediately.

2. (US black) to prove someone wrong.

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 shut down Definition: 1. to be proved wrong.

3. to be left by a partner.

1972

Smith & Gay Heroin in Perspective 206: Shut down. When one’s sexual partner wants no more of the relationship.

4. (US campus) to go to sleep.

1984

Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 6: shut down – to go to sleep, take a nap. From computer jargon.

(US) to punish.

1893

H.F. Wood ‘Justice in a Quandary’ in Good Humor 177: Patsy Burns wants to shut down on a kid that’s bin skinnin’ him.

1. (US) to stop talking.

1877

Hartford Herald (KY) 3 Oct. 6/1: I say, sis, shut that off!

2. (US drugs) to stop doing something, to give up an addiction.

1958

W. Motley Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1959) 124: ‘Why don’t you shut it off?’ ‘Shut what off?’ ‘Things. Those things [pills].’ ‘It makes me feel like I wanna feel.’.

see also under relevant n.

see shut one’s/the row under row n.¹

1. to gain a victory over someone in any competition.

1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 100: Finally gonna shut you down. Dump all over you.
1983		C. Heath A-Team 2 (1984) 25: How do we shut these guys down, Hannibal?

2. to reject one who is making advances.

2000

P. Earley Super Casino 277: ‘If you can get a guy to come over while his buddies are watching, then you can usually hook him [...] because guys don’t want their pals to see them get shut down’.

see separate entries.

be quiet! shut up!

1890		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘On the Shelf and Off It’ Sporting Times 18 Jan. 1: She politely requests him to shut it.
1894		H. Nevinson ‘Sissero’s Return’ in P.J. Keating Working Class Stories of the 1890s (1971) 66: ‘Shut it!’ says Ginger, gettin’ a bit sharper.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Dangerous Dad’ Sporting Times 3 Feb. 1/4: The old gent’s Barnet Fair got at once out o’ comb, / And ’e ’ollered out, ‘Shut it, lad—nanty!’.
1906		Marvel 6 Jan. 683: Shut it, boss! [...] Some cove might ’ear you!
1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 72: ‘Ah-h, shut it!’ said Nicholas wearily.
1915		P. Macgill Amateur Army 64: ‘You know nothin’ of what you’re sayin’.’ ‘Don’t I?’ ‘Git!’ ‘Shut!’.
1926		S. O’Casey Plough and the Stars Act IV: Oh, shut it, shut it, shut it!
1964		J. Orton Entertaining Mr Sloane Act II: Shut it.
1970		J. Conaway Big Easy 134: I told you, shut!
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 216: ‘Ah, shut it,’ Mr Cauldwell [...] would shout [...] ‘Shut it, or I’ll bleeding bash you’.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘The Second Time Around’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Just shut it Rodney!
1991		Reeves & Mortimer Vic Reeves Big Night Out n.p.: Shut it, homeboy. I’m off and I’m taking the fruit cluster.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 68: She had told Alf this [...] and he had said, no, to shut it, to tell the man nothing.
1998		M. Newall ‘Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knyght’ in Indep. Weekend Rev. 26 Dec. 1: Arthur shoutede ‘Shutte itte – the sprogges are sleepen’.
2000		T. Udo Vatican Bloodbath 35: You just shut it ya English cunt or ah’ll slice yer fuckin’ coupon open fur ye!
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 74: The fat geezer told him to, ‘Shut it’ and not to talk to me.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] ‘Shut it, Davie’.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 39: ‘Shut it, wee man, n piss aff’.

be quiet!

1877		R. Burdette Rise and Fall of the Mustache 120: ‘Shut her off!’ ejaculated the man.
1893		J. Hawthorne Confessions of Convict 114: Shut off you guff, now, bubbies!
1916		T. Burke Limehouse Nights 254: Oh, shut orf!
1952		(con. 1944) Wilder & Blum Stalag 17 [film script] 125: Shut off the moaning, or we’ll have the dogs on us. Shut it off, Lieutenant.
1971		T.C. Bambara Gorilla, My Love (1972) 16: Me in the parlor trying to do my arithmetic yellin Shut it off.

(Aus. gambling) a statement that suggests, while it is still in progress, that a competition is over and there is no longer any point in wondering as to the winner.

1966

J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 30: ‘Shut the gate’ [...] became a frequent call at subsequent running meetings when a man had an easy win [...] to mean that the result of an event is evident, that it is as good as over.