- shut (v.)
- Old English scyttan "to put in place so as to fasten a door or gate," from West Germanic *skutjanan (cf. Old Frisian schetta, Middle Dutch schutten "to shut, shut up, obstruct"), from Proto-Germanic *skut- "project" (see shoot). Meaning "to close by folding or bringing together" is from mid-14c. Sense of "to set (someone) free (from)" (c.1500) is obsolete except in dialectal phrases such as to get shut of. To shut (one's) mouth "desist from speaking" is recorded from mid-14c. Shut up (v.) first recorded 1840.