student asking question

What does "shut someone down" here mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

To "shut someone down" is an informal expression meaning to reject, strongly discourage, stop, or prevent something from happening. Thus, the speaker says "I'll shut you down" to share the warning against regulation-breaking that he received. Ex: I wanted to go on holiday to Hawaii, but my parents didn't like my idea and shut it down immediately. Ex: I tried to get that girl's number but she shut me down.

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