v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Shut; p. pr. & vb. n. Shutting. ] [ OE. shutten, schutten, shetten, schitten, AS. scyttan to shut or lock up (akin to D. schutten, G. schützen to protect), properly, to fasten with a bolt or bar shot across, fr. AS. sceótan to shoot. √159. See Shoot. ] 1. To close so as to hinder ingress or egress; as, to shut a door or a gate; to shut one's eyes or mouth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To forbid entrance into; to prohibit; to bar; as, to shut the ports of a country by a blockade. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shall that be shut to man which to the beast
Is open? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To preclude; to exclude; to bar out. “Shut from every shore.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To fold together; to close over, as the fingers; to close by bringing the parts together; as, to shut the hand; to shut a book. [ 1913 Webster ]

To shut in. (a) To inclose; to confine. “The Lord shut him in.” Cen. vii. 16. (b) To cover or intercept the view of; as, one point shuts in another. --
To shut off. (a) To exclude. (b) To prevent the passage of, as steam through a pipe, or water through a flume, by closing a cock, valve, or gate. --
To shut out, to preclude from entering; to deny admission to; to exclude; as, to shut out rain by a tight roof. --
To shut together, to unite; to close, especially to close by welding. --
To shut up. (a) To close; to make fast the entrances into; as, to shut up a house. (b) To obstruct. “Dangerous rocks shut up the passage.” Sir W. Raleigh. (c) To inclose; to confine; to imprison; to fasten in; as, to shut up a prisoner. [ 1913 Webster ] Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Gal. iii. 23. [ 1913 Webster ] (d) To end; to terminate; to conclude. [ 1913 Webster ] When the scene of life is shut up, the slave will be above his master if he has acted better. Collier. [ 1913 Webster ] (e) To unite, as two pieces of metal by welding. (f) To cause to become silent by authority, argument, or force. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Closed or fastened; as, a shut door. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Rid; clear; free; as, to get shut of a person. [ Now dialectical or local, Eng. & U.S. ] L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Phon.) (a) Formed by complete closure of the mouth passage, and with the nose passage remaining closed; stopped, as are the mute consonants, p, t, k, b, d, and hard g. H. Sweet. (b) Cut off sharply and abruptly by a following consonant in the same syllable, as the English short vowels, ă, &ebreve_;, &ibreve_;, &obreve_;, ŭ, always are. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or time of shutting; close; as, the shut of a door. [ 1913 Webster ]

Just then returned at shut of evening flowers. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A door or cover; a shutter. [ Obs. ] Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The line or place where two pieces of metal are united by welding. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cold shut, the imperfection in a casting caused by the flowing of liquid metal upon partially chilled metal; also, the imperfect weld in a forging caused by the inadequate heat of one surface under working. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To close itself; to become closed; as, the door shuts; it shuts hard. [ 1913 Webster ]

To shut up, to cease speaking. [ Colloq. ] T. Hughes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Chute, or Shoot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who shuts or closes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A movable cover or screen for a window, designed to shut out the light, to obstruct the view, or to be of some strength as a defense; a blind. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A removable cover, or a gate, for closing an aperture of any kind, as for closing the passageway for molten iron from a ladle. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Photog.) A mechanical device of various forms, attached to the aperture of a camera lens for opening and closing to expose the plate. It is usually designed so that the time during which the aperture is opened may be varied by a manual dial or by some automatic mechanism, thereby allowing proper exposure of a photographic film under different intensities of light. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

a. Furnished with shutters. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Also shittle, OE. schitel, scytyl, schetyl; cf. OE. schitel a bolt of a door, AS. scyttes; all from AS. sceótan to shoot; akin to Dan. skyttel, skytte, shuttle, dial. Sw. skyttel, sköttel. √159. See Shoot, and cf. Shittle, Skittles. ] 1. An instrument used in weaving for passing or shooting the thread of the woof from one side of the cloth to the other between the threads of the warp. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like shuttles through the loom, so swiftly glide
My feathered hours. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The sliding thread holder in a sewing machine, which carries the lower thread through a loop of the upper thread, to make a lock stitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A shutter, as for a channel for molten metal. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Shuttle box (Weaving), a case at the end of a shuttle race, to receive the shuttle after it has passed the thread of the warp; also, one of a set of compartments containing shuttles with different colored threads, which are passed back and forth in a certain order, according to the pattern of the cloth woven. --
Shutten race, a sort of shelf in a loom, beneath the warp, along which the shuttle passes; a channel or guide along which the shuttle passes in a sewing machine. --
Shuttle shell (Zool.), any one of numerous species of marine gastropods of the genus Volva, or Radius, having a smooth, spindle-shaped shell prolonged into a channel at each end. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To move backwards and forwards, like a shuttle. [ 1913 Webster ]

I had to fly far and wide, shutting athwart the big Babel, wherever his calls and pauses had to be. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To send or toss to and fro; to bandy; as, to shuttlecock words. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]