shut up

Definitions

1. 1

   To close (a building) so that no one can enter.

2. 2

   To terminate (a business).

3. 3

   To put (someone or something) in a secure enclosed space, such as a room or container.

   • The wicked prince was shut up in the castle dungeon.
   • The engineer had shut the locomotive up in the shed for twenty years.
   • 'You know the doctor's ways, sir,' replied Poole, 'and how he shuts himself up. Well, he's shut up again in the cabinet; and I don't like it, sir—I wish I may die if I like it. Mr. Utterson, sir, I'm afraid.'
4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Of a person, to stop talking (said by someone, often one in authority, after one has said…

      Of a person, to stop talking (said by someone, often one in authority, after one has said something annoying, irrelevant, or false, during a period of peace and quiet, or when one is not allowed to talk) or arguing, or (of a person or thing) making noise.

      • You are talking so loud that I can't hear the music – would you mind shutting up?
      • He was blathering on about something, but I managed to shut him up.
      • She told us earlier that none of what you just said was true, so shut up!
   2. 5

      To murder, kill.

      • I just heard that your wife was trying to shut you up for the insurance money.
      • Shepard: Why were they threatening you? Who do they work for? Dr. Chloe Michel: They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian.
   3. 6

      Closed up or off, as in a building that no one is to enter.

      • 2010. Jem (And Sam). Ferdinand Mount. She did not come to Court, but she must have been taken to Montagu's house, for the Clerkenwell house was all shut up and was to be sold.
      • 1865. The Wisconsin Farmer, and Northwestern Cultivator, Volume 17. Pg. 75. Open sheds are too much exposed to drifting snow, and they cannot be shut up and made warm enough for early lambing.
      • 1880. An Earnest Trifler. Mary Aplin Sprague. Pg. 166. Beaudeck is a very shut-up place.
   4. 7

      Stop talking (usually in the form of making annoying, irrelevant, or false comments,…

      Stop talking (usually in the form of making annoying, irrelevant, or false comments, during a period of peace and quiet, or when one is not allowed to talk), arguing, crying, etc.

      • Shut up! We're sick of your whining!
   5. 8

      I don't believe it!, no way!

      • I got accepted to Yale! —Shut up, really? That's awesome!
      • No, I know what home-school is, I'm not retarded! So you've actually never been to a real school before? Shut up! Shut up!
      • Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA. Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA! Jen: It means "personal assistant". Moss: Thank you. Right, OK. What does that actually involve?

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