shut up shop
Meaning: To close a business, either for the day or for good.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Many small bookstores have had to shut up shop.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Literally to close and lock a shop. The figurative use for stopping any activity is found from the 18th century, though the first use has not been precisely traced.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Mettre la clé sous la porte — literally: To put the key under the door
More idioms — Daily Life
- penny wise and pound foolish — Careful with small amounts of money but wasteful with large ones.
- meet someone halfway — To make a compromise with someone.
- wear sackcloth and ashes — To show public regret or repentance.
- sit on the fence — To avoid taking sides.
- take an ax to — To cut something drastically, especially spending or jobs.
- in the crosshairs — Targeted for attack, criticism or scrutiny.
More English idioms
- it doesn't take a rocket scientist — Something is easy to understand; no special intelligence is needed.
- do a moonlight flit — To leave one's home secretly at night, usually to avoid paying rent or debts.
- pipped at the post — To be beaten at the very last moment.
- twiddle one's thumbs — To do nothing while waiting or out of boredom.
- a nest of vipers — A group of people who scheme against or betray each other.
- once bitten, twice shy — After a bad experience, one is much more cautious.
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as une cervelle de moineau — You're scatterbrained and forgetful.
- Без царя в голове (Bez tsarya v golove) — Foolish and reckless — with no one in charge upstairs.
- Cabeça de alho chocho — A forgetful scatterbrain whose thoughts won't stay put.