# shut up

Pronunciation: say "shut UP" /ʃʌt ˈʌp/

## Phrasal verb

1. To stop talking, arguing, or making noise, or to make a person or thing stop; often used rudely as a command.
   - Simple: To stop talking or making noise, or to make someone stop.
   - _My neighbor's car alarm wouldn't shut up until nearly three in the morning._
   - _The senator tried to shut up his critics by threatening to sue them._
4. To confine someone or something inside a closed, secure place like a room, box, or pen.
   - Simple: To put someone or something in a closed place and keep them there.
   - _Zookeepers shut up the big cats in their night enclosures at dusk._
   - _The old letters had been shut up in a trunk in the attic for decades._
5. To close up a building and secure it against anyone entering.
   - Simple: To close a building so that nobody can go in.
   - _The owners decided to shut up the old hotel for the winter._
   - _After the last guests left, the caretaker shut up the house and drove back to the city._
6. To end a business and stop it from operating.
   - Simple: To close a business for good.
   - _The company plans to shut up its last factory in the region next year._
   - _When sales collapsed, the partners shut up the restaurant and sold the equipment._

## Interjection

2. A highly impolite command telling someone to stop talking, arguing, crying, or making a fuss.
   - Simple: A rude way to tell someone to stop talking or be quiet.
   - _"Shut up! Nobody asked for your opinion."_
   - _"Oh, shut up. You have no idea what you're talking about."_
3. Used to express disbelief or amazement at something surprising. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used to say that something is so surprising you can hardly believe it.
   - _"She's moving to Paris next month." "Shut up! Since when?"_
   - _"I ran into your old roommate at the airport." "Shut up! In Denver?"_

## Adjective

7. Closed up or off, as a building is when no one is meant to enter it.
   - Simple: Closed, so that no one can get in.
   - _By October the seaside cottages were all shut up, their windows boarded against the storms._
   - _The old mill stands shut up and silent at the edge of town._

## Phrasal verb

8. To murder someone. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To kill someone.
   - _The gang hired a gunman to shut up the bookkeeper before he could testify._
   - _Her husband was suspected of having shut up his business partner for the insurance payout._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/shut-up (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).