Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHUT, v.t. [pret and pp. shut. Sax. scittan, scyttan, to bolt or make fast, to shut in. This seems to be derived from or connected with scyttel, a bolt or bar, a scuttle, scytta, a shooter, an archer, scytan, sceotan, scotian, to shoot, D. schutten, to stop, defend, parry, pound, confine, which seems to be allied to schutter, a shooter. So in G. schützen, to defend, and schütze, a shooter; Dan. skytter, to defend; skytte, a shooter; Sw. skydda, to defend; skytt, a marksman. The sense of these words is expressed by shoot, and this is the primary sense of a bolt that fastens, from thrusting, driving.]

1. To close so as to hinder ingress or egress; as, to shut a door or gate; to shut the eyes or the mouth.
2. To prohibit; to bar; to forbid entrance into; as, to shut the ports of a kingdom by a blockade. Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast / Is open? – Milton.
3. To preclude; to exclude. But shut from every shore. – Dryden.
4. To close, as the fingers; to contract; as, to shut the hand. To shut in, to inclose; to confine. And the Lord shut him in. – Gen. vii. #2. Spoken of points of land, when by the progress of a ship, one point is brought to cover or intercept the view of another. It is then said, we shut in such a point, we shut in the land; or one point shuts in another. To shut out, to preclude from entering; to deny admission to; to exclude; as, to shut out rain by a tight roof. An interesting subject occupying the mind, shuts out all other thoughts. To shut up, to close; to make fast the entrances into; as, to shut up a house. #2. To obstruct. Dangerous rocks shut up the passage. – Ralegh. #3. To confine; to imprison; to lock or fasten in; as, to shut up a prisoner. #4. To confine by legal or moral restraint. Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith, which should afterward be revealed. Gal. iii. #5. To end; to terminate; to conclude. When the scene of life is shut up, the slave will be above his master, if he has acted better. Collier.