SHUT OFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shut off mean? 

• SHUT OFF (verb)
  The verb SHUT OFF has 3 senses:

1. stem the flow of

2. isolate or separate

3. block off the passage through

  Familiarity information: SHUT OFF used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHUT OFF (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stem the flow of

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

close off; shut off

Context example:

shut off the gas when you leave for a vacation

Hypernyms (to "shut off" is one way to...):

cease; discontinue; give up; lay off; quit; stop (put an end to a state or an activity)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Isolate or separate

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

close off; shut off

Context example:

She was shut off from the friends

Hypernyms (to "shut off" is one way to...):

divide; separate (make a division or separation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shut off"):

curtain off (separate by means of a curtain)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s Adjective/Noun
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Block off the passage through

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

block off; close off; shut off

Context example:

We shut off the valve

Hypernyms (to "shut off" is one way to...):

bar; barricade; block; block off; block up; blockade; stop (render unsuitable for passage)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

"Yes, yes," he shut off her attempted objection.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Then it shut off as suddenly as it began.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The team established that high levels of potassium inside tumors released by dying cancer cells can shut off cancer-killing T cells that have invaded the tumor.

(Harnessing T-cell “stemness” could enhance cancer immunotherapy, National Institutes of Health)

At the same instant the huge portcullis came rattling down from above, and shut off the last fading light of day.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The remainder was shut off by knolls of old trees, or luxuriant plantations, and the steep woody hills rising behind, to give it shelter, were beautiful even in the leafless month of March.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“You are afraid of him now. You are afraid of me. You cannot deny it. If I should catch you by the throat, thus,”—his hand was about my throat and my breath was shut off,—“and began to press the life out of you thus, and thus, your instinct of immortality will go glimmering, and your instinct of life, which is longing for life, will flutter up, and you will struggle to save yourself.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)