put down
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put down
verb puts down · putting down · put down
- To insult, belittle, or demean. They frequently put down their little sister for walking slowly.
- Of money as deposit, to pay. We put down a $1,000 deposit.
- To halt, eliminate, stop, or squelch, often by force. The government quickly put down the insurrection.
- To euthanize (an animal). Rex was in so much pain, they had to put him down.
- To execute (a person), especially extrajudicially. The only thing left to do before putting the plan into action was checking the barracks for stragglers, and putting them down. She placed the first three bombs, then crept to the final door and opened it.
- To write (something). Put down the first thing you think of on this piece of paper.
- To terminate a call on (a telephone); to hang up. Ray eventually called at 7pm and took the school’s side. He sounded imperious and distant and made me even angrier. I told him he sounded just like my father, and put the phone down on him.
- To add a name to a list. I've put myself down for the new Spanish conversation course.
- To make prices, or taxes, lower. BP are putting petrol and diesel down in what could be the start of a price war.
- To place a baby somewhere to sleep. I had just put Mary down when you rang. So now she's crying again.
- To give something as a reason for something else. She put her long life down to daily meditation.
- Of an aircraft, to land. The pilot managed to put down in a nearby farm field.
- To drop someone off, or let them out of a vehicle. The taxi put him down outside the hotel.
- To cease, temporarily or permanently, reading (a book). I was unable to put down The Stand: it was that exciting.
- To drink. I put down two bottles of red wine.
- To set type in lowercase; to switch type from capital to lowercase letters.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see put, down. Why don't you put down your briefcase and stay awhile?
noun put downs
- Alternative spelling of put-down.put-down
