Put – Phrasal verbs and idioms

(selection of the most common ones)

Put off – to make somebody dislike somebody/something

The terrible smell of the blue cheese put me off eating that dish.

Put on – to dress

It took her ages to put on that new tailor-made dress when we were going to see Tosca.

When a man put on a suit, it’s a matter of minutes.

Put up with – to tolerate

After working like a dog all day, I couldn’t put up with noise coming from the upstairs flat, so I called the police at about midnight.

Put something back – postpone

She phoned me earlier to put our meeting back by a week due to her heavy workload.

Put something off – to postpone, delay

Let’s hope she won’t be putting it off indefinitely.

Put somebody down – to make somebody look or feel stupid

Sop putting your son down in front of his friends, please!

Put an animal down – to take a sick animal to the veterinary doctor and kill it humanely

The kids are sad because we had to put our old dog down yesterday.

Put something down – to stop holding something and place it on a table, shelf…etc.

This book is so good, I can’t put it down!

Put your foot down – to be strict about something

You should put your foot down and make her stop behaving like that!

Put something down to something – attribute it to something

They put her promoting down to her relationship with her boss.

Put on – turn on

When I get home today, I’ll put the kettle on and have a nice cup of tea.

Put on – bet on

Don’t put all your money on one horse!

Put on weight – to gain weight, to become heavier

I haven’t seen you for a while and you look like you’ve put on a few pounds. Good for you!

Put out – to stop something from burning

It took the fire brigade all night to put out the fire in that factory.

Put children through college/ university – to pay for the kids to attend an institution

It’s becoming increasingly expensive to put the kids through university with the rise of tuition fees, books, rent and utility bills.

Put somebody through something – to make somebody experience something bad /difficult/ unpleasant

Our son put us through some rough times when he was in his teens: smoking weed, truancy, brawls etc.