put.
To physically place (sth or sb swh).
Meaning & usage
To physically place (sth or sb swh).
She put her books on the table.
The police put him in a cell.
To place in abstract; to attach or attribute; to assign.
The government put restrictions on vehicle imports.
I put £100 on the winning horse.
To bring or set (into a certain relation, state or condition).
Put your house in order!
He is putting all his energy into this one task.
To express (something in a certain manner).
When you put it that way, I guess I can see your point.
To put it bluntly, he's an idiot.
To set before one for judgment, acceptance, or rejection; to bring to the attention.
I put it to you, Sir, that you are a thief and a liar.
to put a question; to put a case
To set as a calculation or estimate.
They have put the cost of repairs at around £10 million.
To steer; to direct one's course; to go.
to put to sea
To sell (assets) under the terms of a put option.
He got out of his Procter and Gamble bet by putting his shares at 80.
To throw with a pushing motion, especially in reference to the sport of shot put. (Do not confuse with putt.)
He put the shot out beyond the 20-metre mark.
To play a card or a hand in the game called “put”.
To lay down; to give up; to surrender.
To incite; to entice; to urge; to constrain; to oblige.
To convey coal in the mine, as for example from the working to the tramway.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English putten, pitten, pytten, 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-West Germanic *putōn, 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”), Low German paten (“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”).
Ellipsis of put option (“right to sell something at a predetermined price”)
He bought a January '08 put for Procter and Gamble at 80 to hedge his bet.
The act of putting; an action; a movement; a thrust; a push.
the put of a ball
An old card game.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English putten, pitten, pytten, 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-West Germanic *putōn, 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”), Low German paten (“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”).
A fellow, especially an eccentric or elderly one; a duffer.
Where this word comes from
Unknown. Perhaps related to Welsh pwt, itself possibly borrowed from English butt (“stub, thicker end”).
A prostitute.
Where this word comes from
From Old French pute.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.