put down
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: puts down
form: putting down
form: put down
form: put down
Senses: examples: text: They frequently put down their little sister for walking slowly.
text: People try to put us down / Just because we get around.
ref: 1965, The Who, My Generation:
antonyms: compliment
talk up
glosses: To insult, belittle, or demean.
examples: text: We put down a $1,000 deposit.
glosses: To pay.
raw_tags: of money as deposit
examples: text: The government quickly put down the insurrection.
text: 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/
For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.
text: When the Nexus first arrived in Andromeda and an uprising arose among the desperate crew, it was William Spender who convinced clan leader Nakmor Morda to put down the mutineers. By all accounts, it did not go well.
ref: 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nexus: William Spender Codex entry:
synonyms: end
stop
eliminate
extinguish
glosses: To halt, eliminate, stop, or squelch, often by force.
examples: text: Rex was in so much pain, they had to put him down.
text: A couple walking in Kirkleatham Woods, Redcar, heard whimpering and found the terrier-type animal in a mound of earth at about midday. It was rushed to a vet but its injuries were so serious it had to be put down.
ref: 2016, Dog found buried alive in Redcar with nail in head, BBC:
synonyms: put to sleep
euthanize
glosses: To euthanize (an animal).
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
synonyms: execute
down
eliminate
glosses: To execute (a person), especially extrajudicially.
examples: text: Put down the first thing you think of on this piece of paper.
text: I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world
ref: 1970, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, “Your Song”, in Elton John, performed by Elton John:
glosses: To write (something).
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1992 June 24, Edwina Currie, Diary:
text: Don't put the phone down. I want a quick word with him, too.
antonyms: pick up
synonyms: hang up
glosses: To terminate a call on (a telephone); to hang up.
examples: text: I've put myself down for the new Spanish conversation course.
glosses: To add a name to a list.
examples: text: BP are putting petrol and diesel down in what could be the start of a price war.
glosses: To make prices, or taxes, lower.
examples: text: I had just put Mary down when you rang. So now she's crying again.
glosses: To place a baby somewhere to sleep.
examples: text: She put her long life down to daily meditation.
glosses: To give something as a reason for something else.
examples: text: The pilot managed to put down in a nearby farm field.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To land.
raw_tags: of an aircraft
examples: text: The taxi put him down outside the hotel.
antonyms: pick up
glosses: To drop someone off, or let them out of a vehicle.
examples: text: I was unable to put down The Stand: it was that exciting.
glosses: To cease, temporarily or permanently, reading (a book).
examples: text: I put down two bottles of red wine.
glosses: To drink.
topics: media
printing
publishing
antonyms: put up
glosses: To set type in lowercase; to switch type from capital to lowercase letters.
examples: text: Why don't you put down your briefcase and stay awhile?
text: "There he is!" cried Mrs. Flanders, coming round the rock and covering the whole space of the beach in a few seconds. "What has he got hold of? Put it down, Jacob! Drop it this moment!
ref: 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:
text: As she did so Fanny put down her book , stood up and stretched her arms, and at once Jessamy noticed a difference.
ref: 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 105:
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see put, down.
Synonyms: sense: add a name to a list
word: register
word: enlist
sense: land an aircraft
word: set down
sense: land an aircraft
word: touch down
Derived terms: putdownable
put-downable
put down as
put down for
put down to
unputdownable
un-put-downable
Related terms: put up