shut down phrasal verb ( see also ↑ shut )
1 . if a company, factory, large machine etc shuts down or is shut down, it stops operating, either permanently or for a short time:
Our local hardware shop has shut down.
shut something ↔ down
an accident which resulted in two of the plant’s nuclear reactors being shut down
The way to shut the machine down is to type EXIT.
2 . shut somebody ↔ down informal to prevent an opposing team or player from playing well or getting points:
We all knew that to win we’d have to shut down Bobby Mitchell.