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Origin and history of shut

shut(v.)

Middle English shitten, sheten, "close (a door, window, gate, etc.); lock, fasten closed," from Old English scyttan "to put (a bolt) in place so as to fasten a door or gate, bolt, shut to; discharge, pay off," from West Germanic *skutjan (source also of Old Frisian schetta, Middle Dutch schutten "to shut, shut up, obstruct"), from PIE root *skeud- "to shoot, chase, throw." Related: Shutting.

The meaning "to close by folding or bringing together" is from mid-14c. That of "prevent ingress and egress" is from mid-14c. The sense of "to set (someone) free (from)," by c. 1500, is obsolete except in dialectal phrases such as get (or be) shut of (attested by 1570s). To shut (one's) mouth "desist from speaking" is recorded from mid-14c.

As a past-participle adjective, "made fast, closed, enclosed," by late 15c. As a noun, "action, time, or place of shutting," by 1660s.

Entries linking to shut

shet

1837, in Georgia vernacular, representing a U.S. colloquial pronunciation of shut. Especially in the expression get shet of "get rid of."

shut up(v.)

c. 1400, "keep from view or use, render inaccessible" early 15c., "to lock up, confine," from shut (v.) + up (adv.). The meaning "cause to stop talking" is from 1814 (Jane Austen). The intransitive meaning "cease from speaking" is from 1840, also as a command to be silent, sometimes colloquialized in print as shuddup (1940). Put up or shut up "defend yourself or be silent" is U.S. slang, by 1868.

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open
Old English open "not closed down, raised up" (of gates, eyelids, etc.), also "exposed, evident, well-known, public," often in a bad sense, "notorious, shameless;" from Proto-Germanic *upana-, literally "put or set up" (source also of Old Norse opinn, Swedish öppen, Danish aaben,
closed
"made shut, not open," c. 1200, past-participle adjective from close (v.). Closed circuit "complete, unbroken (electrical) circuit" is attested from 1827; closed shop "workplace in which only union members are employed" is from 1904; closed system first recorded 1896 in William J
close
(klōz), c. 1200, "to shut, cover in," from Old French clos- (past participle stem of clore "to shut, to cut off from"), 12c...., from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere "to shut, close; to block up, make inaccessible; put an end to; shut in...Also partly from Old English beclysan "close in, shut up." Intransitive sense "become shut" is from late 14c....
recluse
c. 1200, "person shut up or withdrawn from the world and secular living for purposes of religious meditation," originally..."shut up," from Late Latin reclusus, past participle of recludere "to shut up, enclose" (but in classical Latin "to throw...open"), from Latin re-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see re-), + claudere "to shut" (see close (v.))....Recluse as an adjective meaning "shut up or apart from the world" is attested from early 13c....
sluice
water-gate," a shortening of Old French escluse "sluice, floodgate" (Modern French écluse), from Late Latin exclusa "barrier to shut...out water" (in aqua exclusa "water shut out," i.e. separated from the river), from fem. singular of Latin exclusus, past...participle of excludere "to shut out" (see exclude)....
conclude
early 14c., "confute or frustrate an opponent in argument, end an argument by winning it," from Latin concludere "to shut...up, enclose," from assimilated form of com "together" (see con-) + -cludere, combining form of claudere "to shut" (see close...Sometimes in Middle English it was used in the etymological sense, "shut in" (late 14c.)....
sale
Middle English sale, from late Old English sala "a sale, act of selling," which according to OED probably is from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse sala "sale," but in either case from Proto-Germanic *salo (source also of Old High German sala, Swedish salu, Danish salg), fr
seal
"design stamped on wax," especially an impressed figure attached to a document as evidence of authenticity, c. 1200, sel, sele, from Old French seel, seal "seal on a letter" (Modern French sceau), from Vulgar Latin *sigellum (source of Italian suggello, Spanish sello; also Old Fr
peon
in Spanish America, "unskilled worker," formerly in Mexico especially "a type of serf held in servitude by his creditor until his debts are worked off,"  1826, from Mexican Spanish peon "agricultural laborer" (especially a debtor held in servitude by his creditor), from Span

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