shut-ˈout, a. and n.
[shut ppl. a. 2: cf. shut v. 17.]
A. adj.
1. That is shut out or excluded; isolated, remote.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xli. (1856) 378 A relation with the shut-out world. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Let. Sept. (1966) 245 He..was rather intimate with Lord Palmerston at Cambridge, a pleasant soothing reflection now, in his shut-out life. 1860 Geo. Eliot Let. 5 Sept. (1954) III. 342 It is a better house than I care to have, but as it is more shut out than anything we have seen..I accept the luxury. |
2. In Bridge, of a bid: pre-emptive or otherwise intended to discourage the opposition from bidding. Also transf. of a financial bid.
| 1916 [see pre-emptive a. 2]. 1921 A. E. M. Foster Auction Bridge 52 Pre-emptive bids are, in my opinion, a mistake, unless they are of the nature of necessary shut⁓out bids. 1932 [see pre-emptive a. 2]. 1959 Reese & Dormer Bridge Players' Dict. 167 An opening bid of three or four in a suit is in nearly all systems a weak shutout bid, based on a long suit with little or no outside strength. 1969 Observer 12 Jan. 11/1 Joe Hyman, chairman of Viyella International, ought to be worried by Courtaulds' 15s. 6d. a share shut-out bid for English Calico. 1982 Times 22 Jan. 13/5 The Council for the Securities Industry moved yesterday to ban ‘shut out’ takeover bids. It has become popular for one company to take control of another by buying or obtaining promises which give it 50 per cent control before anyone else can make counter proposals. |
3. In Baseball and other games: characterized by the failure of the losers to score; that prevents the opponents from scoring. Chiefly N. Amer.
| 1949 Minot (North Dakota) Daily News 22 July 8/8 He led his Grand Forks team to a one-hit shutout victory over Duluth. 1974 News & Press (Darlington, S. Carolina) 25 Apr. 11/1 Riding to victory on the two hit shutout pitching of Reece Ammons and the strong bat of Darrell Lloyd, the St. John's Blue Devils blitzed the Manning Monarchs 6–0. 1978 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 21 May 3B/5 The Purple team scoring a 9–0 shutout win over the White unit in a controlled scrimmage. |
B. n.
1. In Baseball and other games: a match or innings in which one side does not score; prevention from scoring. Also fig. Chiefly N. Amer.
| 1889 Pueblo (Colorado) Opinion 21 July 4/5 The Springs were ‘fated’ from the start, and narrowly escaped a shut out. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 79/2 (Baseball) Shut out, an innings in which a side does not score a run. 1936 N.Y. Herald Tribune 2 Oct. 10/2 The national scoreboard looked pretty bad. In fact it looked so much like a shutout for the team that you voted a change of management in order to give the country a chance to win the game. 1937 Evening Standard 25 Feb. 31 The Swiss may fully extend Britain, and maybe even break Foster's proud run of ‘shut-outs’. 1955 Edmonton Jrnl. 4 Jan. 10/4 A few hours later he secured that elusive shutout that had escaped him so far this season. 1972 Newsweek 31 July 43/3 Fischer routed Mark Taimanov..6 to 0, for the first shutout in the history of grandmaster chess. 1972 N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 39/1 Senator McGovern may lose every state in the Union, and..his only chance of avoiding a shut-out lies with the people..in California and the District of Columbia. 1977 Wandsworth Borough News 16 Sept. 10/3 Putney St. Mary's Senior ‘D’ and U/12 ‘A’ teams were in good scoring form, both winning their matches after scoring 10 goals apiece. For the ‘D’ team it was a complete shut-out. 1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xix. 426 Roberta pitched a shutout. |
2. A shut-out bid: see sense 2 of the adj. above.
| 1936 E. Culbertson Contract Bridge Complete 17 Shut-out, an unnecessarily high bid, designed to make it difficult for the other side to enter the auction. 1982 Observer 17 Jan. 17/5 The Takeover Panel's consent to the ‘shut-out’. |