▪ I. shutting, vbl. n.
(ˈʃʌtɪŋ)
[f. shut v. + -ing1.]
1. a. In trans. senses of the verb; closing, fastening up, drawing together, etc.
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1598 For ther is noon so litel thing So hid, ne closed with shitting, That it ne is sene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 445/2 Schetynge, or lokkynge wythe lokkys, seracio. 1562 Child-Marriages 116 The shuttinge of windowes. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 75 The said shutting of their mouths. a 1754 Sir J. Strange Rep. (1782) I. 615 The day of the shutting of the books. 1779 H. Walpole Let. to Mann 7 July, The shutting of our ports against France. |
b. Welding, splicing.
| 1490 in Archæol. Cant. (1886) XVI. 298 For schettyng of the..bell claper viij d. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 150 Shutyng & Amendyng of v boltes. 1555 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 62 For shutynge on of the old hynges..ij d. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 78 Shutting is joining or welding one piece of iron to another. |
2. Something which closes fast, a bar, shutter. Usually
pl. Also, a junction, a place where two things come together.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 445/2 Schetynge, or schettynge, or sperynge, clausura. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. xxxv. 24 Than frote welle thyn heed, for it openyth the shettyngis of þi brayne. 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick i. xxiii. (1639) 39 You must..fasten cupping glasses to the shutting of the joynts. a 1679 Sir J. Moore Eng. Interest (1703) 108 The Bar or Shutting [of the door of a bee-hive] is to be made four square, of some heavy Matter, as Lead. |
3. In intransitive senses of the verb: The close of a day, evening, etc.; nightfall.
| 1598 Greenwey Tacitus, Ann. i. v. (1622) 8 In the night, or in the shutting of the euening. 1699 Relat. Sir T. Morgan's Progr. 13 The Major-General desired his Excellency, that he would give orders to them..to keep themselves in readiness..for at the shutting of the Night he would fall on. 1924 C. Mackenzie Heavenly Ladder xix. 247 They finished decorating the church just before the shutting in of a still and humid dusk. |
4. a. In comb. with various
advs.| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 445/2 Schettynge in, inclusio... Schettynge owte, exclusio. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades i. ix. 86 In the shuttinge vppe and ende of all ages. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus Z iv b, The setting of the Sun, and shutting in of nighte, belong to Zephyr. 1642–4 Vicars God in Mount 191 A little before shutting in of day-light. 1722 De Foe Plague (Rtldg.) 54, I mention'd..shutting of Houses up. 1798 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. p. clvi, The thickness of the smoke at the shutting in of the evening. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxvii, The shop was not closed, although it was past the usual hour of shutting-up. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Grk. Test. 14 The deliberate shutting out of a large..portion of available evidence. 1891 Daily News 3 Mar. 2/4 The shutting down of the mines in America. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 677 The sudden shutting off of the blood-supply to a limited area of the brain. |
b. Specific uses:
shutting off (see
quot.);
shutting up, (
a) see
quot. 1852; (
b) welding; (
c)
shutting-up time: the hour for closing the shop, etc.;
shutting together = shutting up (
b).
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 240 *Shutting Off. A term used to describe the operation of throwing the winding wheels [of a fusee watch] out of action. |
| 1852 G. W. Johnson Cottage Gard. Dict. 824 *Shutting-up is closing the lights of frames, pits, greenhouses, and stoves, which have been opened for the admission of air. |
| 1883 Crane Smithy & Forge 43 Joining two pieces of bar or rod together which the smith usually denominates ‘shutting up’ or ‘*shutting together’. 1889 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxx, It was latish..and near shutting-up time. |
5. attrib., as
shutting joint,
post, the joint or post against which a door or gate closes;
shutting stile (see
quot. 1955).
| 1823 Practical Builder iii. 182 (heading) On the formation of the shutting-joints of doors. 1929 T. Corkhill in R. Greenhalgh Joinery & Carpentry I. iii. 171 The hinge is on the concave and the result is an extremely awkward shutting joint. 1944 N. W. Kay Pract. Carpenter & Joiner vi. 140 As a curved rebate is not always possible the shutting joint is set out to a straight surface tangential to the greatest radius on the framing. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. III. 2170/1 Shutting post, the post or joint against which a gate or door is closed. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 764/1 On the under side of the shutting post is a small roller which runs on to a bracket on the shutting post itself, thus taking up the whole weight of the gate when it is closed. 1909 Webster, Shutting stile. 1955 N. W. Kay Mod. Building Encycl. 613 Shutting stile, door or window stile opposite the hanging stile. |
▪ II. ˈshutting, ppl. a. [-ing2.] That shuts.
| 1634 in Archæologia XXXV. 197 Fower shutting windowes. 1803 Visct. Strangford Poems of Camoens (1810) 52 When..night⁓drops bathe each shutting bell [of a flower]. 1850 T. T. Lynch Theoph. Trinal v. 83 A shutting gate..we hear. 1900 Elworthy Horns of Honour ii. 143 The grinning opening and shutting jaws. |