From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshut out phrasal verb1 IGNORE shut somebody out to deliberately not let someone join you in an activity or share your thoughts and feelings How can I help you if you just keep shutting me out all the time?shut somebody out from I felt I was being shut out from all the family’s affairs.2 ENTER# shut somebody/something ↔ out to prevent someone or something from entering a place heavy curtains that shut out the sunlightshut somebody/something ↔ out from The door closed firmly, shutting me out from the warmth inside.3 IGNORE shut something ↔ out to stop yourself from thinking about or noticing something, so that you are not affected by it People close their windows at night in a vain attempt to shut out the sound of gunfire. She shut out memories of James. Jenny closed her eyes and tried to shut everything out.4 shut out somebody American EnglishDS to defeat an opposing sports team and prevent them from getting any points Colorado shut out Kansas City 3–0. → shut→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
shut out• John shut everybody out of the kitchen so that he could prepare his grand surprise.• He slammed the door, shutting out the dogs.shut from• The door closed firmly, shutting me out from the warmth inside.shut from• The door closed firmly, shutting me out from the warmth inside.shut everything out• She shut her eyes to shut everything out.shut-outˈshut-out noun [countable] American English DSBa game in which one team is prevented by the other from getting any points 