put

PUUT/pʊt/

Formsputs, putting, put

21 meanings of put

Practice

1
placeverbtransitive
To place something or someone physically somewhere.
Put the milk back in the fridge.
He puts his keys in the same bowl every night.
UsageAlways needs a place: put it on the shelf. The past tense and participle are also put.
Similarplace, set, lay, position, stick
Oppositeremove, take
Note
The physical sense the others grow from. A thing put was first a thing pushed.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Put developed from earlier forms meaning to push. en.wiktionary.org
2
verbtransitive
To place someone or something into a given state, condition, or relationship.
The news put her in a bad mood.
They put the plan into action at once.
UsageSet phrases: put someone in a good mood, put a plan into action, put someone at ease.
Similarbring, set, throw
3
verbtransitive
To place something abstract on someone or something; to attach, attribute or assign.
They put a tax on sugar.
You can't put a price on peace of mind.
UsageCommon with on: put the blame on someone, put pressure on them, put a limit on spending.
Similarimpose, place, levy, set, attach
Oppositelift, remove
4
investverbtransitive
To spend or invest resources in something, whether money, thought, time, energy, or effort; typically used with into.
Investors often put billions into startups that have yet to sell a single product.
Clearly a lot of thought was put into the design of this kitchen.
UsageCommon pattern: put time, money, or work into something.
Similarinvest, pour, devote
5
verbtransitive
To set before someone for judgment, acceptance or rejection.
She put the proposal to the whole board.
Put the motion to a vote.
UsageThe pattern is put something to someone: put a question to the panel, I put it to you that...
Similarpresent, submit, propose, pose, offer
Oppositewithdraw
Note
A courtroom formula keeps this sense sharp: I put it to you that… is how an accusation is laid before someone to accept or deny. Orwell's animals fall silent "when it was put to them in this light": the matter is set before them in a form they cannot reject, and they accept it without further argument.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The quoted wording occurs in the narrator's account of the animals' reaction in George Orwell's Animal Farm, Chapter III. gutenberg.net.au
The animals accept the argument without further discussion; its force comes from their fear that Jones will return. gutenberg.net.au
6
verbtransitive
To express something in a particular way.
How shall I put this? The dog is gone.
She puts things very plainly.
UsageNeeds a how: to put it simply, how shall I put this?, well put.
Similarexpress, phrase, word, say, state
Note
Julius Hare in 1846 calls an argument "ingeniously and ably put." Without a manner the sentence feels unfinished, because this sense always needs its how.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Julius Hare wrote the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
7
estimateverbtransitive
To estimate or calculate something at a particular figure.
Analysts put the losses at a billion.
I would put the distance at about a mile.
UsageThe figure follows at: they put the cost at $5 million.
Similarestimate, place, reckon, calculate, assess
8
write inverbtransitive
To write something down or fill it in at a particular place, for example an answer on a test or the details a form asks for.
Put your initials beside each change before you sign the lease.
Under 'occupation,' he had put 'retired,' though he still consulted two days a week.
Similarwrite, enter

Less common meanings

9
throw the shotverbtransitive
In athletics, to throw a heavy ball with a pushing motion from the shoulder, as in the shot put. Not to be confused with putt.
Few athletes can put a shot over twenty-two meters.
He puts the shot with his left hand.
UsagePast forms are also put: she put the shot twenty meters.
Similarthrow, heave, hurl
Note
In athletics the shot is put rather than thrown, because the motion is a push from the body. The event's name, shot put, uses the same verb.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The shot is propelled by pushing rather than by throwing. activesgcircle.gov.sg
The event is called shot put and involves putting the shot. worldathletics.org
10
nouncountable or uncountable
In finance, an option giving the right to sell a stock or other asset at a fixed price by or on a set date; a put option.
Puts rise in value when the market falls.
The fund used a put to limit its losses.
Oppositecall
Note
Here the right to sell becomes a thing you can hold, buy and count: puts generally rise in value when the underlying asset's price falls. Its partner is the call, the right to buy, and the two may even sit in one instrument. The verb names what the holder does on using it.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
A put is a financial contract that can be bought and held and gives its buyer the right to sell the underlying asset. investor.gov
A call gives its buyer the right to buy the underlying asset. en.wikipedia.org
One financial instrument can contain both a call and a put. en.wikipedia.org
11
throw the shotnouncountable or uncountable
The act of putting; a push or thrust.
A clumsy put sent the shot wide.
Each put is measured from the inside edge of the circle to where the shot first lands.
Similarthrow, thrust, heave, push
Note
An old idiom keeps this noun in the record. In 1692 L'Estrange calls the stag's move "a Forc'd put," meaning an action one is pushed into by circumstance rather than one freely chosen. As a countable noun it names a single push or movement, as in the put of a ball, and it carries the verb's original sense of thrusting.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
L'Estrange's Fables was first published in 1692. creighton.edu
L'Estrange calls the stag's action a forced put, explicitly contrasting circumstance with free choice. en.wiktionary.org
The noun preserves a sense of pushing or thrusting found in the verb's ancestry. en.wiktionary.org
12
sailverbintransitive
Of a vessel or its crew, to steer or direct its course; to go.
They put out from the harbor before the storm.
The ferry put in at the island for an hour.
UsageComes with out, in or to: put out from the harbor, put in at a port, put to sea.
Similarsail, head, steer, set
Note
A seafaring use, and an intransitive one: the vessel or its crew is the subject, and a word of direction follows, as in put to sea, put to land, put out or put in. Dryden's Virgil of 1697 has "he puts to land." Unlike the everyday placing sense, nothing gets placed here. The verb simply means to set out or head somewhere.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Dryden's translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. en.wikipedia.org
The quotation occurs in Dryden's translation, in the narration of Aeneid Book VI. gutenberg.org
13
give upverbobsolete
To lay something down in surrender; to yield it.
No man hath more love than this, that a man put his life for his friends.
c. 1382, John Wycliffe [et al.], The Holy Bible
Note
Long obsolete, it survives in the Wycliffe translation of the late 1300s, where a man "put his life for his friends." Modern English needs lay down or give up there.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The Wycliffe Bible translation dates from the late fourteenth century, approximately 1382–1395. en.wikipedia.org
John 15:13 contains the quoted expression, with spelling modernized in the note; it refers to laying down one's life. en.wikisource.org
14
verbobsolete
To incite, urge, constrain or oblige someone.
These wretches put us upon all mischief.
1722, Jonathan Swift, The Last Speech of Ebenezer Elliston
Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
Note
An obsolete verb of pressure that took a person as object, followed by upon or to. Swift's wretches "put us upon all mischief." Scott's speaker pleads "put me not to use the carnal weapon." Milton has "puts me loath to this revenge." Readers meet it in such older writers; in current prose, write urge, drive or force instead.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Put had an obsolete sense meaning to incite, urge, constrain or oblige, illustrated by constructions with a personal object followed by upon or to. en.wiktionary.org
Swift's text contains the quoted words, spoken by the purported speaker Ebenezer Elliston in The Last Speech of Ebenezer Elliston. gutenberg.org
A speaker in Scott's fiction uses these exact words: Joseph Tomkins in Woodstock, chapter two. gutenberg.org
Milton's Paradise Lost contains the quoted words, spoken by Satan in Book IV. en.wikisource.org
15
SayPUT/pʌt/
nounobsolete
A chap, particularly one who is odd or getting on in years; a duffer.
Queer Country-puts extol Queen Bess's reign, And of lost hospitality complain.
1733, James Bramston, The Man of Taste
Any number of varlet to be had for a few ducats and what droll puts the citizens seem in it all!
1870, Frederic Harrison, “The Romance of the Peerage: Lothair,”
Note
A separate word of unknown origin, possibly linked to Welsh pwt, and long obsolete. It usually appears as an insult with an adjective in front: old put, queer country-puts, droll puts. Thackeray's captain calls his father "an old put, an old snob, an old chaw-bacon," which shows the company it kept: scornful nicknames rather than curses.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
This noun has a separate, unknown etymology, with a possible connection to Welsh pwt. en.wiktionary.org
The noun meaning an eccentric or elderly fellow is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
The combinations old put, queer country-puts and droll puts are attested. en.wiktionary.org
Thackeray's Captain Rawdon Crawley calls his father the quoted names; Rebecca Sharp reports this in Vanity Fair. gutenberg.org
16
SayPUT/pʌt/
nounobsolete
A prostitute.
And Mrs. Penny-a-hoist Pim, said Mr. Gorman. That old put, said Mr. Nolan.
1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt
Note
Unrelated to the other nouns, this one comes from Old French pute and is marked obsolete. Beckett still reaches for it in Watt (1953), with "That old put," which echoes the "old put" of the old word for a duffer. Only context tells them apart, so read any "old put" in older writing with care.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
The prostitute noun has a separate Old French origin. en.wiktionary.org
The prostitute sense is marked obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
Samuel Beckett wrote Watt, first published in 1953. leseditionsdeminuit.fr
The words “That old put” occur in Watt. en.wiktionary.org
“Old put” can contain either noun, requiring contextual interpretation. en.wiktionary.org
17
not movingadjectivecolloquial
Remaining in one spot instead of moving away or leaving, used after a verb like stay, sit, or keep.
Most of the fans stayed put in their seats through the long rain delay.
Despite rising rents, the couple decided to stay put instead of moving to the suburbs.
Note
The verb's past participle has frozen into an adjective here: to stay put is to stay where you were put.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Put is the verb's past participle. en.wiktionary.org
Put functions as an adjective in stay put. copland.udel.edu
Stay put has the literal sense of remaining where one was placed. gutenberg.org
18
verb
In finance, to sell an asset to the other party at the price fixed by a put option.
19
verb
In mining, to move coal underground, for example from the working face to the tramway.
20
verb
To play a card or hand in the card game of the same name.
21
noun
An old card game.
Among the in-door amusements of the costermonger is card-playing, at which many of them are adepts. The usual games are all-fours, all-fives, cribbage, and put.
1851, Henry Mayhew, “Costermongers”

More uses

stay putto stay in the same place and not move

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of put apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–14, 17

Old English had putian ("to push, put out"), known only from a related word, and potian ("to push, thrust, strike, goad"). Putian gave Middle English putten, and potian may have fed into it too. Both trace to Proto-Germanic *putōną, meaning "to stick, stab," a word of uncertain origin. A possible source is a Proto-Indo-European root *bud- ("to shoot, sprout"). Dutch poten ("to plant") and Danish putte ("to put") are cognates.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts

*putian is reconstructed from the derivative putung and glossed “to push, put out”; the fuller gloss belongs to potian. en.wiktionary.org
Old English potian meant “to push, thrust, strike, goad”. en.wiktionary.org
The separate entries derive putten from *putian and identify poten, subsequently English pote, as the descendant of potian. en.wiktionary.org
Both Old English forms trace to Proto-Germanic *putōną. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *putōną meant “to stick, stab”. en.wiktionary.org
The origin of *putōną is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Indo-European *bud-, meaning “to shoot, sprout”, is a possible source. en.wiktionary.org
Dutch poten means “to plant” and is cognate with English put. en.wiktionary.org
Danish putte means “to put” and is cognate with English put. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 15

Nobody knows the source of this word. It is perhaps related to Welsh pwt, which Welsh may in turn have taken from English butt, meaning a stub or the thicker end of something.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

The origin of this sense of put is unknown. en.wiktionary.org
Put is perhaps related to Welsh pwt. en.wiktionary.org
Welsh pwt may have been borrowed from English butt. en.wiktionary.org
English butt means a stub or the thicker end of something. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 16

From Old French pute.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

English put, meaning a prostitute, derives from Old French pute. en.wiktionary.org