1987, Eric Taylor, Be Fit Through Your Forties[1], page 68:
There are times when we have to pull the shutters down on all the irritating aspects of our lives and retreat into the peace and quiet of our own inner dreamworld where the sun is shining and we are doing our own thing.
1993, Russell Grant, Russell Grant's Day-by-Day Horoscope for 1993[2], page 3:
It’s time to pull the shutters down on any area of your professional life that isn’t working, hasn’t come up to expectations or is developing into a dead duck.
1994, Diana Hamilton, The Last Illusion[3], page 3:
Stop thinking, pull the shutters down on that contentious brain of yours, and simply feel.
1997, "Apple shuts down Singapore design centre", Canadian Computer Wholesaler, May 1997, page 50:
The financial crisis at Apple Computer Inc. spilled over to Singapore recently with the company deciding to pull the shutters down on its design center and lay off 101 of its 974 employees in the island state.
2019, Gyan Nagpal, The Future Ready Organization: How Dynamic Capability Management Is Reshaping the Modern Workplace[4], unnumbered page:
A brilliant engineer, music fan and amateur disc jockey, Fadell had been forced pull the shutters down on what had been a promising consumer electronics start-up.
Britain should not “pull the shutters down” on China, as it would be counterproductive to the national interest, the foreign secretary has told the Guardian.
