put
put Lexical Profile
put Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To move to or place in a particular position or location.
"She put the groceries on the kitchen counter and began unpacking them."
To bring into a specified state, condition, or relation.
"The new manufacturing regulations put the smaller factories at a competitive disadvantage."
To express, state, or phrase a thought or question in a particular manner.
"To put it simply, the project cannot proceed without additional funding."
To estimate, assess, or assign at a particular value, amount, or level.
"Economists put the cost of rebuilding the coastal infrastructure at several billion dollars."
To throw or propel a heavy metal ball from the shoulder in athletic competition.
"Athletes must put the shot from inside a marked circle without stepping over the toe board."
• adjective
Remaining in a fixed or stationary position without moving (used predicatively, especially after 'stay' or 'keep').
"The guide instructed the hikers to stay put until the rescue team arrived."
• noun
A financial option contract giving the owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell a specified amount of an underlying security at a predetermined price within a set time frame.
"The investor purchased a put on the technology stock to hedge against a potential market downturn."
A throw of a heavy metal ball in athletic competition, made by pushing it outward from the shoulder rather than hurling it overarm.
"Her final put in the championship broke the collegiate record bynearly half a meter."
Word Nuance & Usage
As a verb of placement, 'put' requires both a direct object and a locative complement (e.g., 'put the book on the table'); omitting the location renders the clause ungrammatical in standard English. Do not confuse it with the golfing term 'putt', which is spelled with a double 't' and pronounced with a short 'u' sound.
• Rhymes for put
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English putten, derived from a late Old English root *putian (attested in the verbal noun putung, meaning 'instigation' or 'urging'), of Germanic origin and related to Old Norse potta ('to poke or prod').