Shut up

One source has indicated this: The use of the phrase "shut up" to signify "hold one's tongue" or "compel silence" dates from the sixteenth century.

Among the texts that include examples of the phrase "shut up" in this context are Shakespeare's King Lear, Dickens's Little Dorrit, and Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads.

The earlier meaning of the phrase, to close something, is widely used in Little Dorrit, but is used in one instance in a manner which foreshadows the modern usage: 'Altro, altro!

"[4] As early as 1859, use of the shorter phrase was expressly conveyed in a literary work: A sneering infidel, who uses Scripture for a jest-book, raves about "cant," and retails and details every inconsistency, real or imaginary, that he hears respecting parsons and hypocrites, will be told to "shut up" for a few times; but will, if he persevere, make an impression on a workshop.

[6] The usage by Rudyard Kipling appears in his poem "The Young British Soldier", published in 1892, told in the voice of a seasoned military veteran who says to the fresh troops, "Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,/You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay".

Variations produced by changes in spelling, spacing, or slurring of words include shaddap, shurrup,[8] shurrit,[8] shutup, and shuttup.

[8] On The King of Queens, Doug Heffernan (the main character played by Kevin James) is known for saying shutty, which is also a variation of the phrase that has since been used by the show's fans.

[24] Another seemingly discordant use, tracing back to the 1920s, is the phrase "shut up and kiss me", which typically expresses both impatience and affection.