Put (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Put; p. pr. & vb. n.
Putting.] [AS. potian to thrust: cf. Dan. putte
to put, to put into, Fries. putje; perh. akin to W.
pwtio to butt, poke, thrust; cf. also Gael. put to push,
thrust, and E. potter, v. i.] 1. To move
in any direction; to impel; to thrust; to push; -- nearly obsolete,
except with adverbs, as with by (to put by = to thrust
aside; to divert); or with forth (to put forth = to
thrust out).
His chief designs are . . . to put thee by from
thy spiritual employment.
Jer. Taylor.
2. To bring to a position or place; to place;
to lay; to set; figuratively, to cause to be or exist in a specified
relation, condition, or the like; to bring to a stated mental or moral
condition; as, to put one in fear; to put a theory in
practice; to put an enemy to fight.
This present dignity,
In which that I have put you.
Chaucer.
I will put enmity between thee and the
woman.
Gen. iii. 15.
He put no trust in his servants.
Job iv. 18.
When God into the hands of their deliverer
Puts invincible might.
Milton.
In the mean time other measures were put in
operation.
Sparks.
3. To attach or attribute; to assign; as, to
put a wrong construction on an act or expression.
4. To lay down; to give up; to
surrender. [Obs.]
No man hath more love than this, that a man put
his life for his friends.
Wyclif (John xv.
13).
5. To set before one for judgment, acceptance,
or rejection; to bring to the attention; to offer; to state; to
express; figuratively, to assume; to suppose; -- formerly sometimes
followed by that introducing a proposition; as, to put a
question; to put a case.
Let us now put that ye have leave.
Chaucer.
Put the perception and you put the
mind.
Berkeley.
These verses, originally Greek, were put in
Latin.
Milton.
All this is ingeniously and ably
put.
Hare.
6. To incite; to entice; to urge; to
constrain; to oblige.
These wretches put us upon all
mischief.
Swift.
Put me not use the carnal weapon in my own
defense.
Sir W. Scott.
Thank him who puts me, loath, to this
revenge.
Milton.
7. To throw or cast with a pushing motion
"overhand," the hand being raised from the shoulder; a practice in
athletics; as, to put the shot or weight.
8. (Mining) To convey coal in the mine,
as from the working to the tramway. Raymond.
Put case, formerly, an elliptical expression
for, put or suppose the case to be.
Put case that the soul after departure from the
body may live.
Bp. Hall.
-- To put about (Naut.), to turn, or
change the course of, as a ship. -- To put
away. (a) To renounce; to discard; to
expel. (b) To divorce. -- To put
back. (a) To push or thrust backwards;
hence, to hinder; to delay. (b) To refuse; to
deny.
Coming from thee, I could not put him
back.
Shak.
(c) To set, as the hands of a clock, to an
earlier hour. (d) To restore to the original
place; to replace. -- To put by.
(a) To turn, set, or thrust, aside. "Smiling
put the question by." Tennyson.
(b) To lay aside; to keep; to sore up; as, to
put by money. -- To put down.
(a) To lay down; to deposit; to set down.
(b) To lower; to diminish; as, to put down
prices. (c) To deprive of position or power;
to put a stop to; to suppress; to abolish; to confute; as, to put
down rebellion or traitors.
Mark, how a plain tale shall put you
down.
Shak.
Sugar hath put down the use of
honey.
Bacon.
(d) To subscribe; as, to put down one's
name. -- To put forth. (a)
To thrust out; to extend, as the hand; to cause to come or push
out; as, a tree puts forth leaves. (b)
To make manifest; to develop; also, to bring into action; to
exert; as, to put forth strength. (c)
To propose, as a question, a riddle, and the like.
(d) To publish, as a book. -- To put
forward. (a) To advance to a position of
prominence or responsibility; to promote. (b)
To cause to make progress; to aid. (c) To
set, as the hands of a clock, to a later hour. -- To put
in. (a) To introduce among others; to
insert; sometimes, to introduce with difficulty; as, to put in
a word while others are discoursing. (b)
(Naut.) To conduct into a harbor, as a ship.
(c) (Law) To place in due form before a
court; to place among the records of a court. Burrill.
(d) (Med.) To restore, as a dislocated
part, to its place. -- To put off.
(a) To lay aside; to discard; as, to put
off a robe; to put off mortality. "Put off thy
shoes from off thy feet." Ex. iii. 5. (b)
To turn aside; to elude; to disappoint; to frustrate; to
baffle.
I hoped for a demonstration, but Themistius hoped to
put me off with an harangue.
Boyle.
We might put him off with this
answer.
Bentley.
(c) To delay; to defer; to postpone; as, to
put off repentance. (d) To get rid of; to
dispose of; especially, to pass fraudulently; as, to put off a
counterfeit note, or an ingenious theory. (e)
To push from land; as, to put off a boat. --
To put on or upon.
(a) To invest one's self with, as clothes; to
assume. "Mercury . . . put on the shape of a man."
L'Estrange. (b) To impute (something) to;
to charge upon; as, to put blame on or upon
another. (c) To advance; to promote.
[Obs.] "This came handsomely to put on the peace."
Bacon. (d) To impose; to inflict.
"That which thou puttest on me, will I bear." 2 Kings xviii.
14. (e) To apply; as, to put on
workmen; to put on steam. (f) To
deceive; to trick. "The stork found he was put upon."
L'Estrange. (g) To place upon, as a means
or condition; as, he put him upon bread and water.
"This caution will put them upon considering."
Locke. (h) (Law) To rest upon; to
submit to; as, a defendant puts himself on or
upon the country. Burrill. -- To put
out. (a) To eject; as, to put out
and intruder. (b) To put forth; to shoot, as
a bud, or sprout. (c) To extinguish; as,
to put out a candle, light, or fire. (d)
To place at interest; to loan; as, to put out funds.
(e) To provoke, as by insult; to displease; to
vex; as, he was put out by my reply. [Colloq.]
(f) To protrude; to stretch forth; as, to put
out the hand. (g) To publish; to make
public; as, to put out a pamphlet. (h)
To confuse; to disconcert; to interrupt; as, to put one
out in reading or speaking. (i)
(Law) To open; as, to put out lights, that is, to
open or cut windows. Burrill. (j)
(Med.) To place out of joint; to dislocate; as, to put
out the ankle. (k) To cause to cease
playing, or to prevent from playing longer in a certain inning, as in
base ball. -- To put over. (a)
To place (some one) in authority over; as, to put a general
over a division of an army. (b) To
refer.
For the certain knowledge of that truth
I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother.
Shak.
(c) To defer; to postpone; as, the court put
over the cause to the next term. (d) To
transfer (a person or thing) across; as, to put one over
the river. -- To put the hand to or
unto. (a) To take hold of, as of an
instrument of labor; as, to put the hand to the plow; hence, to
engage in (any task or affair); as, to put one's hand to
the work. (b) To take or seize, as in
theft. "He hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's
goods." Ex. xxii. 11. -- To put through,
to cause to go through all conditions or stages of a progress;
hence, to push to completion; to accomplish; as, he put through
a measure of legislation; he put through a railroad
enterprise. [U.S.] -- To put to.
(a) To add; to unite; as, to put one sum
to another. (b) To refer to; to
expose; as, to put the safety of the state to
hazard. "That dares not put it to the touch."
Montrose. (c) To attach (something) to; to
harness beasts to. Dickens. -- To put to a
stand, to stop; to arrest by obstacles or
difficulties. -- To put to bed.
(a) To undress and place in bed, as a child.
(b) To deliver in, or to make ready for,
childbirth. -- To put to death, to
kill. -- To put together, to attach; to
aggregate; to unite in one. -- To put this and
that (or two and two)
together, to draw an inference; to form a
correct conclusion. -- To put to it, to
distress; to press hard; to perplex; to give difficulty to. "O
gentle lady, do not put me to 't." Shak. --
To put to rights, to arrange in proper order; to
settle or compose rightly. -- To put to the
sword, to kill with the sword; to slay. --
To put to trial, or on
trial, to bring to a test; to try. -- To
put trust in, to confide in; to repose confidence
in. -- To put up. (a) To
pass unavenged; to overlook; not to punish or resent; to put up with;
as, to put up indignities. [Obs.] "Such national injuries
are not to be put up." Addison. (b)
To send forth or upward; as, to put up goods for sale.
(d) To start from a cover, as game. "She has
been frightened; she has been put up." C. Kingsley.
(e) To hoard. "Himself never put up
any of the rent." Spelman. (f) To lay side
or preserve; to pack away; to store; to pickle; as, to put up
pork, beef, or fish. (g) To place out of
sight, or away; to put in its proper place; as, put up that
letter. Shak. (h) To incite; to
instigate; -- followed by to; as, he put the lad
up to mischief. (i) To raise; to
erect; to build; as, to put up a tent, or a house.
(j) To lodge; to entertain; as, to put up
travelers. -- To put up a job, to arrange a
plot. [Slang]
Syn. -- To place; set; lay; cause; produce; propose; state.
-- Put, Lay, Place, Set. These words agree
in the idea of fixing the position of some object, and are often used
interchangeably. To put is the least definite, denoting merely
to move to a place. To place has more particular reference to
the precise location, as to put with care in a certain or proper
place. To set or to lay may be used when there is
special reference to the position of the object.