[put-on]{n.} An act of teasing; the playing of a practical joke on someone. •/Eric didn’t realize that it was a put-on when his friends phoned him that he won the lottery./
[put on airs]{v. phr.} To show conceit; act in a superior or condescending manner. •/The fact that her parents own a villa in Capri is no reason for Amanda to keep putting on airs./
[put on an act]{v. phr.} 1. To perform a play. •/The seventh grade put on a lovely act for Christmas for the parents./ 2. To pretend. •/"If you always put on an act," her father said, "people will never know who you really are."/
[put on ice] See: ON ICE(2).
[put one in one’s place] See: CUT DOWN TO SIZE.
[put one in the picture]{v. phr.} To inform someone of all the facts about a given situation. •/Once you’re back from your overseas trip, we’ll put you in the picture about recent developments at home./
[put one on a pedestal]{v. phr.} To exaggeratedly worship or admire a person. •/Daniel puts Elaine on a pedestal and caters to her every whim./
[put one on one’s feet] See: ON ONE’S FEET(2).
[put one out of the way] See: OUT OF THE WAY(3).
[put one through one’s paces]{v. phr.} To train and discipline someone; test one’s abilities. •/The new recruits were certainly put through their paces by the drill sergeant./
[put one wise]{v. phr.} To bring one up-to-date; inform someone; explain. •/Our old friend David put us wise as to where the best used cars could be found in Chicago./
[put one’s back to it]{v. phr.} To make a real effort; to try. •/You can finish the job by noon if you put your back to it./ •/I’m sure you can make the football team if you put your back to it./
[put one’s best foot forward]{v. phr.}, {informal} To try to make a good impression; try to make a good appearance; do one’s best. •/During courtship, it is natural to put your best foot forward./ •/When Ted applied for the job he put his best foot forward./
[put one’s cards on the table] See: LAY ONE’S CARDS ON THE TABLE.
[put oneself in another’s place] or [put oneself in another’s shoes] {v. phr.} To understand another person’s feeling imaginatively; try to know his feelings and reasons with understanding; enter into his trouble. •/It seemed like a dreadful thing for Bob to do, but I tried to put myself in his place./ •/If you will put yourself in the customer’s shoes you may realize why the thing isn’t selling./
[put one’s finger on] also [lay one’s finger on] {v. phr.} To find exactly. •/The engineers couldn’t put their fingers on the reason for the rocket’s failure to orbit./ •/We called in an electrician hoping he could put a finger on the cause of the short circuit./
[put one’s foot down]{v. phr.}, {informal} To take a decided stand; be stubborn in decision. •/John didn’t want to practice his piano lesson, but his teacher put his foot down./ •/When it came to smoking pot at parties, our parents put their foot down./
[put one’s foot in it] or [put one’s foot in one’s mouth] {v. phr.}, {informal} To speak carelessly and rudely; hurt another’s feelings without intending to; make a rude mistake. •/He put his foot in it with his remark about self-made men because Jones was one of them./ •/She put her foot in her mouth with her joke about that church, not knowing that one of the guests belonged to it./
[put one’s hand on] See: LAY ONE’S HANDS ON(3).
[put one’s hand to] or [set one’s hand to] or [turn one’s hand to] {v. phr.} To start working at; try to do. •/Hal does a good job at everything mat he turns his hand to./ •/After Mr. Sullivan found farming unprofitable, he moved to town and turned his hand to carpentry./
[put one’s hand to the plow] or [set one’s hand to the plow] {v. phr.} To start doing something of importance; give yourself to a big job. •/We felt that he had put his hand to the plow, and we didn’t like it when he quit./
[put one’s head in the sand] See: HIDE ONE’S HEAD IN THE SAND.
[put one’s heart on one’s sleeve] See: HEART ON ONE’S SLEEVE.
[put one’s money on a scratched horse]{v. phr.}, {informal} To bet on a certain failure; to gamble without a chance of winning. •/You bet on the New York Mets to win the World Series? Why put your money on a scratched horse?/ Compare: STACK THE CARDS.
[put one’s nose out of joint]{v. phr.}, {informal} 1. To make you jealous; leave you out of favor. •/When Jane accepted Tom’s invitation it put Jack’s nose out of joint./ 2. To ruin your plans; cause you disappointment. •/Joe’s mother put his nose out of joint by not letting him go to the movie./
[put one’s house in order] or [set one’s house in order] {v. phr.} To arrange your affairs in good order. •/Grandfather knew he would not live long and set his house in order./ •/When Mr. Black died, his lawyer helped the widow put her house in order./
[put one’s shoulder to the wheel]{v. phr.} To make a great effort yourself or with others; try hard; cooperate. •/The effort to get a new high school succeeded because everyone put his shoulder to the wheel./ •/The company was failing in business until a new manager put his shoulder to the wheel./
[put on one’s thinking cap]{v. phr.} To think hard and long about some problem or question. •/Miss Stone told her pupils to put on their thinking caps before answering the question./
[put on paper] See: BLACK AND WHITE.
[put on the back burner] See: ON ICE.
[put on the dog]{v. phr.} To behave ostentatiously in terms of dress and manner. •/"Stop putting on the dog with me," Sue cried at Roy. "I knew the real you from way hack!"/
[put on the line] See: LAY ON THE LINE.
[put on the map]{v. phr.} To make (a place) well known. •/The first successful climb of Mount Matterhorn put Zermatt, Switzerland, on the map./ •/Shakespeare put his hometown of Stratford-on-Avon on the map./
[put out]{v.} 1. To make a flame or light stop burning; extinguish; turn off. •/Please put the light out when you leave the room./ •/The firemen put out the blaze./ 2. To prepare for the public; produce; make. •/For years he had put out a weekly newspaper./ •/It is a small restaurant, which puts out an excellent dinner./ 3. To invest or loan money. •/He put out all his spare money at 4 percent or better./ 4. To make angry; irritate; annoy. •/It puts the teacher out to be lied to./ •/Father was put out when Jane spilled grape juice on his new suit./ 5. {informal} To cause inconvenience to; bother. •/He put himself out to make things pleasant for us./ •/Will it put you out if I borrow your pen?/ Compare: GO OUT OF ONE’S WAY. 6. To retire from play in baseball. •/The runner was put out at first base./ 7. To go from shore; leave. •/A Coast Guard boat put out through the waves./ 8. {vulgar}, {avoidable} Said of women easy and ready to engage in sexual intercourse. •/It is rumored that Hermione gets her promotions as fast as she does because she puts out./
[put out of action] See: OUT OF ACTION.
[put out of the way]{v. phr.} To kill. •/When people spoke against the dictator, he had them put out of the way./ •/The old dog was very sick, and Father had the animal doctor put him out of the way./
[put over]{v.} 1. To wait to a later time; postpone. •/They put over the meeting to the following Tuesday./ Syn.: PUT OFF. 2. {informal} To make a success of; complete. •/He put over a complex and difficult business deal./ Syn.: BRING OFF, PUT ACROSS, SLIP OVER. 3. {informal} To practice deception; trick; fool. — Used with "on". •/George thought he was putting something over on the teacher when he said he was absent the day before because his mother was sick and needed him./ •/Tom really slipped one over on us when he came to the Halloween party dressed as a witch./
[put someone on]{v.} To play a joke on someone by saying or doing things that are only pretense; kid. •/When the voice on the phone told Mrs. Jones she had won a $10,000 prize, she thought someone was putting her on./
[put that in your pipe and smoke it]{v. phr.}, {informal} To understand something told you; accept something as fact or reality; not try to change it. — Usually used as a command, normally only in speech, and often considered rude. •/People don’t vote against Santa Claus, and you might as well put that in your pipe and smoke it./ •/I am not going to do that and you can put that in your pipe and smoke it./
[put the bite on]{v. phr.}, {slang} To ask (for money, favors, etc.) •/John put the bite on his friend for several tickets to the dance./ •/Willie Mays put the bite on the Giants for a large raise./
[put the cart before the horse] See: CART BEFORE THE HORSE.
[put their heads together] or [lay their heads together] {v. phr.}, {informal} To plan or consider things together; discuss something as a group; talk it over. •/They put their heads together and decided on a gift./ •/We laid our heads together and decided to have a picnic./
[put through]{v. phr.} 1. To carry out; arrange. •/If Jim can put through one more financial transaction like this one, we will be rich./ 2. To connect (said of telephone calls). •/The telephone operator had to put me through to Zambia as there is no direct dialing there yet./
[put through one’s paces]{v. phr.}, {informal} To test the different abilities and skills of a person or a thing; call for a show of what one can do. •/He put his new car through its paces./ •/Many different problems put the new mayor through his paces in the first months of his term./
[put to bed]{v. phr.} 1. To put to rest for the night. •/Father put the three children to bed./ •/The boy seemed ill, so the nurse put him to bed./ 2. {informal} To complete preparations and print. •/The newspaper was put to bed at 1:15 A.M./ •/The pressroom was late in putting the sports section to bed./
[put to it]{adj. phr.} Hard pressed; having trouble; in difficulty; puzzled. •/When he lost his job, he was rather put to it for a while to provide for his family./ •/The boy was put to it to answer the teacher’s question./
[put to rights] or [set to rights] {v. phr.}, {informal} To put in good order; clean up. •/It took the company a long time to put the office to rights after the fire./ •/It took Mrs. Smith an hour to set the room to rights after the party./
[put to sea]{v. phr.} To start a voyage. •/The captain said the ship would put to sea at six in the morning./ •/In the days of sailing ships, putting to sea depended on the tides./
[put to shame]{v. phr.} 1. To disgrace. •/The cleanliness of European cities puts our cities to shame./ •/That filthy dump puts our town to shame./ 2. To do much better than surpass. •/Einstein put other physicists to shame when he proved his theory of relativity correct./
[put to sleep]{v. phr.} 1. To cause to fall asleep. •/Mother used to put us to sleep by telling us a good-night story and giving us a kiss./ 2. To kill with an injection (said of animals). •/Dr. Murphy, the veterinarian, put our sick, old dog to sleep./
[put to the sword]{v. phr.}, {literary} To kill (people) in war, especially with a sword. •/The Romans put their enemies to the sword./ •/In some wars captives have been put to the sword./
[put to use]{v. phr.} To use. •/During the early part of the Korean war the cooks and office workers of the U.S. Army were put to use in battle./ •/Henry decided to put his dictionary to use./ •/I wish you’d put the lawn mower to use!/
