Shut up

1.  Imprison, confine, enclose, as in The dog was shut up in the cellar for the night, or She shut up her memories and never talked about the past. [c. 1400]
2.  Close completely, as in The windows were shut up tightly so no rain came in. [Early 1500s] This usage also occurs in shut up shop, meaning "close the premises of a business," as in It's late, let's shut up shop now. [Late 1500s] Also see close up, def. 3.
3.  Cause someone to stop speaking, silence someone, as in It's time someone shut him up. [Early 1800s]
4.  Stop speaking, as in I've told you what I think and now I'll shut up. This usage also occurs as a rather rude imperative, as in Shut up! You've said enough. [First half of 1800s]

Definition: be or make quiet
Antonyms: speak, talk

The verb has 3 meanings:

Meaning #1: refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent
  Synonyms: close up, clam up, dummy up, belt up, button up, be quiet, keep mum

Meaning #2: place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape
  Synonyms: lock in, lock away, lock, put away, shut away, lock up

Meaning #3: cause to be quiet or not talk
  Synonyms: hush, quieten, silence, still, hush up

The adjective shut up has one meaning:

Meaning #1: closely confined
  Synonym: pent

For other uses, see Shut up (disambiguation).

Look up shut up in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

"Shut up" is a slang phrase with a meaning similar to "be quiet"', but commonly perceived as an angrier, "meaner", and more commanding attempt to stop someone from talking or making noise. More explicit forms of the phrase may be constructed by the interposition of modifiers, including "shut the hell up","shut the fuck up", and most mildly, "shut the heck up". In instant messenger communications, these are in turn often abbreviated to STHU and STFU, respectively. Similar phrases include "hush up" and "shut your mouth".

Prior to the Twentieth century, the phrase "shut up" was rarely used as an imperative, and had a different meaning altogether. To say that someone was "shut up" meant that they were locked up, quarentined, or held prisoner. For example, several passages in the Bible instructs that if a priest determines that a person shows certain symptoms of illness, "then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days". Leviticus 13:4 (King James Version).

One 1888 source identifies the phrase by its similarity to William Shakespeare's use in Much Ado About Nothing of the "the Spanish phrase poeat palabrât, 'few words,' which is said to be pretty well the equivalent of our slang phrase 'shut up'".^[1]

References

1. ^ Sir Henry Irving, Frank Albert Marshall, Edward Dowden, commentary on The Works of William Shakespeare‎ (1888), p. 252.

External links

• Hush (disambiguation)
• Shut up (disambiguation)
• Shut your mouth (disambiguation)

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