to shut up shop
1
4.7
- phrasal verb
- UK
:
cerrar la tienda
- You can't shut up shop now.
Examples
-
Give Twitter a year and they'll exclude URLs from the 140 character limit, and the TinyURL services will shut up shop in a few months.
Blog text (19) -
I didn't know the poets shut up shop at teatime.
Fiction book (1995) -
You get your hands on one of them, we can shut up shop.
-
Just help me shut up shop.
Fiction book (1994) -
And once we have started building, all of the other stall holders will just shut up shop.
-
I've shut up shop for the day.
-
Scottish Country Tours had shut up shop for the winter, and the last lot of Americans, complete with baggage, souvenirs, and tartan bonnets, had been waved away.
Fiction book (1990) -
After a long day of sales, the shop owner decided to shut up shop for the night.
-
Due to the lack of customers, the small café had to shut up shop permanently.
-
At 6 PM, we always shut up shop so that our staff can go home on time.
Synonyms
541
2.9
Stop a machine, business, or system from working
94
2.9
To stop operating permanently, like a shop or company
44
3.5
To stop a shop or business from operating
17
4.0
To permanently stop operating as a business or organization
11
3.9
To stop doing business for a short time or forever
3
4.3
Sell all remaining stock at low prices to end a business
1
4.4
Close a shop or business and stop trading
Antonyms
How Closed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core meaning 'to close a business' is largely recoverable from 'shut' (close) + 'shop' (place of business), so a learner who knows those words can infer the basic idea. However the particle 'up' adds an idiomatic/grammatical nuance (completeness or cessation) and could be confused with the separate phrase 'shut up' meaning 'be quiet'; the exact scope (temporary vs. permanent) and register are not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Shut up shop comes from shopkeepers closing their shop at the end of the day, pulling down shutters, locking the door and putting things up and away so the place is fully shut. That's why it means 'to stop trading' or 'to close for the day or for good'.