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

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?

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.