shut up shop

Definitions

1. To close up shop; to end a business activity.
   British, colloquial, intransitive
2. To bat defensively in the last innings of a match in order to force a draw when winning is not possible.
   intransitive
3. To play extremely defensively
   intransitive

Examples

“The company decided to shut⟳ up shop⟳ in this country and move⟳ to America, where corporate taxes are lower.”

“Well, he then decided to manufacture⟳ everything as in the human body. I'll show⟳ you in the museum the bungling attempt⟳ it took him ten years to produce⟳. It was to have⟳ been a man, but it lived for three days only. Then up came young Rossum, an engineer. He was a wonderful fellow, Miss⟳ Glory. When he saw⟳ what a mess of it the old man was making, he said: "It's absurd to spend⟳ ten years making a man. If you can't make⟳ him quicker than nature, you might as well shut⟳ up shop⟳."”

“Instead of shutting up shop⟳, Ghouneim relocated to humdrum Wittenau, a suburb of Berlin, and got some tape artists to decorate⟳ the facade of the new building.”

“But like⟳ almost every other business sector, the Coronavirus outbreak in March⟳ has forced every single heritage railway to shut⟳ up shop⟳ for several months... at a time when they would normally be at their busiest.”

“After months of bitter disagreements and legal back-and-forth, he had finally given up and struck out on his own⟳, but he'd met with a string of bad luck—a client who refused to pay⟳, a flood⟳, a false insurance claim⟳—and he'd had to shut⟳ up shop⟳; now he was working for a big construction firm as a gun for hire⟳ and telling anybody who would listen⟳ what a rotten hand he had been dealt.”

“Having taken a ninth-minute lead⟳ through the imperious Erling Haaland and seeing out the opening 45 minutes pretty comfortably, Guardiola decided to shut⟳ up shop⟳ in the second half, possibly with tiredness in mind⟳.”

CEFR level