From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshut up phrasal verb1 shut up! spoken not politeTALK TO somebody used to tell someone to stop talking SYN be quiet! Oh, shut up! I don’t want to hear your excuses. Just shut up and listen.shut up! about Shut up about your stupid dog, okay!2 shut (somebody) upTALK TO somebodyQUIET informal to stop talking or be quiet, or to make someone do this I can’t stand that woman. She never shuts up.shut (somebody) up about I wish you’d shut up about Chris. I only said that to shut her up.3 KEEP somebody IN A PLACE shut somebody up to keep someone in a place away from other people, and prevent them from leavingshut somebody up in I’ve had a terrible cold and been shut up in my room for a week. Was there any need to keep us shut up here?4 SHUT/CLOSE shut something ↔ up to close a shop, room etc so that people cannot get into it Bernadette cleaned the attic and then shut it up for another year.5 shut up shop British English informalSHUT/CLOSE to close a business or stop working, at the end of the day or permanently → shut→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
shut up• "The war, the war, the bloody war!" said Comfort, banging her fist on the table."Why can't you all shut up about it?"• Don't tell Grandma or she'll never shut up about it.• According to the legend, Acrisius built an underground house for his daughter. Here he shut her up and guarded her.• Just shut up and listen to me.• No one wants to listen to you - why don't you shut up and sit down.• Hey, shut up down there! We're trying to sleep.• The lawyer claimed that his client had been shut up in a prison cell for hours, when there was no legal reason to keep him.• Just shut up, will you! You're giving me a headache!shut up!• Just shut up, you two!shut (somebody) up• Goddamn it, Eustis, can you just for once in your empty-headed, godforsaken life shut yourself up!• He claims it was a mole but I know it was him - what can I do to shut him up?• It goes on-this urge to shut people up.• Parker punched his head to shut him up.• I want to shut them up about the pound-for-pound thing.• The biggest appetite I had was for words, and these guys shut me up entirely.• He shut himself up in his palace and let matters go as they would.• Unsettled by the riddle, Mungo finally decided that Jos had probably shut him up just to get some peace.shut somebody up• Can't you shut those kids up?• Goddamn it, Eustis, can you just for once in your empty-headed, godforsaken life shut yourself up!• He claims it was a mole but I know it was him - what can I do to shut him up?• It goes on-this urge to shut people up.• Parker punched his head to shut him up.• I want to shut them up about the pound-for-pound thing.• The biggest appetite I had was for words, and these guys shut me up entirely.• He shut himself up in his palace and let matters go as they would.• The only way to shut her up is to give her something to eat.• Unsettled by the riddle, Mungo finally decided that Jos had probably shut him up just to get some peace.shut something ↔ up• Goddamn it, Eustis, can you just for once in your empty-headed, godforsaken life shut yourself up!• He claims it was a mole but I know it was him - what can I do to shut him up?• It goes on-this urge to shut people up.• Parker punched his head to shut him up.• I want to shut them up about the pound-for-pound thing.• The biggest appetite I had was for words, and these guys shut me up entirely.• He shut himself up in his palace and let matters go as they would.• Unsettled by the riddle, Mungo finally decided that Jos had probably shut him up just to get some peace.shut up shop• We might just as well shut up shop.• Keith Rodwell, Ipswich Witches' commercial manager, shuts up shop after last night's match with Wolverhampton was rained off.• Time to shut up shop and get to know each other again.• It's not like being on shore where once the patients are gone you shut up shop and go home.• But as shopping habits changed many traders shut up shop and moved out blaming recession, traffic restrictions and fewer bus routes.• I think we should shut up shop, if you don't mind.• They need ways of shutting up shop, or at least of enduring, when conditions are simply impossible. 