put definition

English put definition

Etymology 1

From Middle English putten, puten, poten, from Old English putian, *pūtian ("to push, put out"; attested by derivative putung (“pushing, impulse, instigation, urging”)) and potian (“to push, thrust, strike, butt, goad”), both from Proto-Germanic *putōną (“to stick, stab”), which is of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bud- (“to shoot, sprout”), which would make it cognate with Sanskrit बुन्द (bundá, “arrow”), Lithuanian budė, and budis (“mushroom, fungus”). Compare also related Old English pȳtan (“to push, poke, thrust, put out (the eyes)”). Cognate with Dutch poten (“to set, plant”), Danish putte (“to put”), Swedish putta, pötta, potta (“to strike, knock, push gently, shove, put away”), Norwegian putte (“to set, put”), Norwegian pota (“to poke”), Icelandic pota (“to poke”), Dutch peuteren (“to pick, poke around, dig, fiddle with”).

Alternative forms

• putt (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: po͝ot, IPA^(key): /pʊt/, [pʰʊʔt]

• Audio - 'to put' (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊt

Verb

put (third-person singular simple present puts, present participle putting, simple past put, past participle put or (UK dialectal) putten)

1. To place something somewhere.

   She put her books on the table.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Philander went into the next room […] and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’

2. To bring or set into a certain relation, state or condition.
   • 1670, John Milton, “The [First] Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , OCLC 946735472, page 11:

     Theſe Verſes Originally Greek, were put in Latin,

   Put your house in order!

   He is putting all his energy into this one task.

   She tends to put herself in dangerous situations.

3. (finance) To exercise a put option.

   He got out of his Procter and Gamble bet by putting his shares at 80.

4. To express something in a certain manner.

   When you put it that way, I guess I can see your point.

   • 1846, Julius Hare, The Mission of the Comforter

     All this is ingeniously and ably put.

5. (athletics) To throw a heavy iron ball, as a sport. (See shot put. Do not confuse with putt.)
6. To steer; to direct one's course; to go.
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:

     His fury thus appeased, he puts to land.

7. To play a card or a hand in the game called put.
8. To attach or attribute; to assign.

   to put a wrong construction on an act or expression

9. (obsolete) To lay down; to give up; to surrender.
   • c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, editors, The Holy Bible, […], volume IV, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, OCLC 459166891, John 15:13, page 280:

     No man hath more love than this, that a man put his life for his friends.

10. To set before one for judgment, acceptance, or rejection; to bring to the attention.

    to put a question; to put a case

    • 1708-1710, George Berkeley, Philosophical Commentaries or Common-Place Book

      Put the perceptions and you put the mind.

    • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

      Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say.

11. (obsolete) To incite; to entice; to urge; to constrain; to oblige.
    • 1722, Jonathan Swift, The Last Speech of Ebenezer Elliston

      These wretches put us upon all mischief.

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, line 386:

      Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge

    • 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 2392685:

      Put me not to use the carnal weapon in my own defence.

12. (mining) To convey coal in the mine, as for example from the working to the tramway^[1].

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• putten

Noun

put (countable and uncountable, plural puts)

1. (business) A right to sell something at a predetermined price.
2. (finance) Short for put option.

   He bought a January '08 put for Procter and Gamble at 80 to hedge his bet.

   • c. 1900, Universal Cyclopaedia Entry for Stock-Exchange

     A put and a call may be combined in one instrument, the holder of which may either buy or sell as he chooses at the fixed price.

3. The act of putting; an action; a movement; a thrust; a push.

   the put of a ball

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:

     The Stag's was a Forc'd put, and a Chance rather than a Choice.

4. (uncountable) An old card game.
   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor:

     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.

Translations

See also

• Stock option on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• call
• option

Etymology 2

Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Welsh pwt, itself possibly borrowed from English butt (“stub, thicker end”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʌt/
• Homophone: putt

Noun

put (plural puts)

1. (obsolete) A fellow, especially an eccentric or elderly one; a duffer.
   • 1733, James Bramston, "The Man of Taste":

     Queer Country-puts extol Queen Bess's reign,

     And of lost hospitality complain.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 244:

     The old put wanted to make a parson of me, but d—n me, thinks I to myself, I'll nick you there, old cull; the devil a smack of your nonsense shall you ever get into me.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 11, in Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, OCLC 3174108:

     The Captain has a hearty contempt for his father, I can see, and calls him an old put, an old snob, an old chaw-bacon, and numberless other pretty names.

   • 1870, Frederic Harrison, "The Romance of the Peerage: Lothair," Fortnightly Review:

     Any number of varlet to be had for a few ducats and what droll puts the citizens seem in it all!

Etymology 3

Old French pute.

Noun

put (plural puts)

1. (obsolete) A prostitute.
   • 1935, Samuel Beckett, Watt:

     And Mrs. Penny-a-hoist Pim, said Mr. Gorman. That old put, said Mr. Nolan.

References

Anagrams

• PTU, TPU, UTP, tup

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Afrikaans put definition

Etymology

From Dutch put, from Middle Dutch put, from Old Dutch *putti, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

put (plural putte)

1. well; pit

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Catalan put definition

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈput/
• Rhymes: -ut

Verb

put

1. third-person singular present indicative form of pudir
2. second-person singular imperative form of pudir

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Dutch put definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʏt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: put
• Rhymes: -ʏt
• Homophone: Puth

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch put, from Old Dutch *putti, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus.

Noun

put m (plural putten, diminutive putje n)

1. pit, well
2. drain

Derived terms

• afvoerput
• beerput
• opvangput
• putjesschepper
• putlucht
• regenput
• waterput

Descendants

• Afrikaans: put
• Negerhollands: pit, put
• → Sranan Tongo: peti
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: peti

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

put

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of putten
2. imperative of putten

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Finnish put definition

Interjection

put

1. (onomatopoeia) putt, imitating the sound of a low speed internal combustion engine, usually repeated at least twice: put, put.

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French put definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: pu, pue, pues, puent, pus, pût

Verb

put

1. third-person singular past historic of pouvoir

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Kalasha put definition

Noun

put

1. Alternative spelling of putr

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Latvian put definition

Verb

put

1. 3rd person singular present indicative form of putēt
2. 3rd person plural present indicative form of putēt
3. (with the particle lai) 3rd person singular imperative form of putēt
4. (with the particle lai) 3rd person plural imperative form of putēt

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Romanian put definition

Verb

put

1. inflection of puți:
   1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. third-person plural present indicative

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Scottish Gaelic put definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʰuht̪/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Scots put (“push”). Ultimately from the root of English put.

Verb

put (past phut, future putaidh, verbal noun putadh, past participle pute)

1. push, shove
2. jostle
3. press

Derived terms

• putan
• put ann

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Scots pout, from Middle English pulet (“a pullet”).

Noun

put m (genitive singular puta, plural putan)

1. young grouse, pout (Lagopus lagopus)

Etymology 3

Probably of North Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *pūto (“swollen”), from Proto-Indo-European *bu- (“to swell”), see also Sanskrit बुद्बुद (budbuda, “bubble”).

Noun

put m (genitive singular puta, plural putan)

1. (nautical) large buoy, float (generally of sheepskin, inflated)
2. corpulent person; any bulging thing
3. shovelful, sod, spadeful
4. (medicine) bruised swelling

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
put	phut
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “put”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• MacBain, Alexander; Mackay, Eneas (1911), “put”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Stirling, →ISBN, page 284

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Serbo-Croatian put definition

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *pǫtь, from Proto-Indo-European *pent-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pûːt/

Noun

pȗt m (Cyrillic spelling пу̑т)

1. road

   put za Sarajevo ― road to Sarajevo

   gd(j)e vodi ovaj put? ― where does this road lead?

2. way

   ovim putem ― this way

   ići pravim putem ― to go the right way

   vodeni put ― waterway

   ići svojim putem ― to go one's own way

   stati nekome na put ― to stand in somebody's way

   teret je na putu ― cargo is on the way

   miči mi se s puta! ― get out of my way!

   najkraći put do bolnice ― the shortest way to the hospital

   na pola puta do škole ― halfway to the school

3. path

   krčiti put ― to clear a path

   put do usp(j)eha ― the path to success

4. trip, journey, travel

   ići na put ― to go on a trip

   biti na putu ― to be on a trip

   put oko sv(ij)eta ― a trip around the world

   poslovni put ― a business trip

5. (figurative and idiomatic senses) method, means

   sudskim putem ― by legal means; through court order

   službenim/zvaničnim putem ― through official channels

Declension

Etymology 2

From Proto-Slavic *plъtь.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pût/

Noun

pȕt f (Cyrillic spelling пу̏т)

1. complexion, skin hue, tan

   sv(ij)etla put ― fair complexion/tan

   tamna put ― dark complexion/tan

   crna put ― black complexion/tan

2. body as a totality of physical properties and sensitivities

   mlada put ― a young body

   gladna put ― a hungry body

Declension

Etymology 3

From pȗt (“road, path, way”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pûːt/

Preposition

pȗt (Cyrillic spelling пу̑т) (+ genitive case)

1. to, toward

   put Sarajeva ― toward Sarajevo

   put škole ― to school

   Vozimo se put sela. ― We are driving toward the village.

   Krenuo sam put grada. ― I went toward the city.

Etymology 4

From pȗt (“road, path, way”).

Alternative forms

• (genitive plural) pútā

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pûːt/

Adverb

pȗt (Cyrillic spelling пу̑т)

1. time (with adjectives, ordinals and demonstratives indicating order in the sequence of actions or occurrences)

   prvi put ― the first time, for the first time

   drugi put ― the second time, for the second time; another time

   ovaj put ― this time

   sljedeći/sledeći put ― the next time

   posljednji/poslednji put ― the last time

   po stoti put ― for the hundredth time

   svaki put ― every time

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Tok Pisin put definition

Etymology

From English foot.

Noun

put

1. foot

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Turkish put definition

Etymology

From Persian بت‎ (“idol”), from Middle Persian bwt' (“Buddha, idol”), ultimately from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʰut/

Noun

put (definite accusative putu, plural putlar)

1. idol (object or thing of spiritual worship)

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	put
Definite accusative	putu
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	put	putlar
Definite accusative	putu	putları
Dative	puta	putlara
Locative	putta	putlarda
Ablative	puttan	putlardan
Genitive	putun	putların

Related terms

• putperest