Definition of: put

(pt) v. put, put·ting v.t.
1. To bring into or set in a specified or implied place or position; lay: Put the book on the table.
2. To bring into a specified state, condition, or relation: to put a prisoner to death.
3. To apply; bring to bear: Put your back into it!
4. To impose: to put a tariff on bicycles.
5. To ascribe or attribute, as the wrong interpretation on a remark.
6. To place according to one's estimation: I put the time at five o'clock.
7. To throw with a pushing motion of the arm: to put the shot.
8. To incite; prompt. Who put him up to it?
9. To bring forward for debate, answer, consideration, etc.: to put a question.
10. To subject: Let's put it to a vote.
11. To express in words; state: That's putting it mildly.
12. To risk; bet: I'll put six dollars on that horse.
—v.i.
13. To go; proceed: to put to sea.
—to put about Naut. To change to the opposite tack; change direction.
—to put aside (or away or by)
1. To place in reserve; save.
2. To thrust aside; discard.
—to put down
1. To repress; crush.
2. To degrade; demote.
3. To write.
—to put forth
1. To extend, as the arm or hand.
2. To grow, as shoots or buds.
3. To exert.
4. To set out; leave port.
—to put forward To advance; urge, as a claim.
—to put in
1. Naut. To enter a harbor or place of shelter.
2. To interpolate; interpose.
3. Colloq. To devote; expend, as time.
4. To advance (a claim, etc.).
5. To submit, as an application.
—to put off
1. To delay; postpone.
2. To discard.
3. To make uneasy or uncomfortable; disconcert.
—to put on
1. To don.
2. To bring into action; turn on.
3. To simulate; pretend.
4. To give a representation of; stage.
—to put out
1. To extinguish.
2. To expel; eject.
3. To disconcert; embarrass.
4. To inconvenience.
5. To put forth.
6. In baseball, to retire (a batter or base runner).
—to put over
1. To place in command or charge.
2. Colloq. To accomplish successfully.
—to put one (or something) over on Colloq. To deceive or dupe.
—to put through
1. To bring to successful completion.
2. To cause to perform.
—to put up
1. To erect; build.
2. To preserve or can.
3. To wager.
4. To provide (money, capital, etc.).
5. To sheathe, as a weapon.
—to put upon To deceive; cheat.
—to put up with To endure; tolerate.
—noun
1. The act of putting, as a cast or throw.
2. A contract by which one person, in consideration of money paid to another, acquires the privilege of selling or delivering to the latter within a certain time some article named, as wheat or cotton, or shares at a stipulated price: opposed to call.
—adjective Colloq. Fixed; settled as fixed: My hat won't stay put. [Fusion of OE putian place, potian thrust, and ptan push, prob. all <Scand. Cf. Dan. putte.] Synonyms (verb): deposit, lay, place, set. Put is the most general term for bringing an object to some point or within some space, however exactly or loosely; we may put a horse in a pasture, or put a bullet in a rifle or into an enemy. Place denotes more careful movement and more exact location; as, to place a crown on one's head, or a garrison in a city. To lay is to place in a horizontal or recumbent position; to set is to place or adjust in a certain place or position; we lay a cloth, and set a dish upon a table. To deposit is to put in a place of security for future use; as, to deposit money in a bank; the original sense, to lay down is also common; as, the stream deposits sediment; insects deposit eggs. Compare SET.