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Glite Dictionary
to put a sock in it

to put a sock in it

9 9.1
Tell someone to be quiet
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : cállate
  • Please put a sock in it; I can't focus on my work with all that noise.
  • Oh, put a sock in it
  • Hey, put a sock in it
  • tell him to put a sock in it

Examples

  • You tell her to put a sock in it because I need to talk to you right now!

    Anger Management (2003)

  • "Put a sock in it," I tell them.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Hey, put a sock in it.

    Unbelievable!!!!! (2020)

  • The rest of us can just put a sock in it.

    Blog text (16)

  • Aw, put a sock in it!

    The Borrowers (1997)

  • Put a sock in it, will you, Car?

    Late Night with the Devil (2024)

  • Put a sock in it, will you?

    Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

  • Would everyone just put a sock in it and stop hating on Taylor?

    Blog text (1)

  • Put a sock in it, you weird little gerbil.

    Mexican Gangster (2008)

  • The laughter that followed that unintentional sally didn't die down until Gary came storming into the dressing room and told everyone to put a sock in it.

    Fiction book (1997)

Synonyms

to shut up
vsto put a sock in it
  • Offensive
∞ 4.1

Tell someone to be quiet in a rude or angry way

is informal too but often less rude or sharp
to knock it off
vsto put a sock in it
  • Informal
321 8.1

Tell someone to stop doing something annoying

specifically targets stopping talking rather than broader actions
to pipe down
vsto put a sock in it
  • Informal
35 7.1

To become quiet or tell someone to stop making noise

is informal but can be delivered more directly or sharply
to shush
vsto put a sock in it
  • Informal
31 5.5

Tell someone to be quiet by making a soft 'shh' sound

is a spoken informal command rather than a soft sound
to hush up
vsto put a sock in it
  • Informal
2 5.0

Make someone stop talking and be quiet

asks for quiet in informal speech without implying suppression
to shut one's gob
vsto put a sock in it
  • UK
9.9

To tell someone rudely to be quiet

is an informal command but usually less blunt in tone
to belt up
vsto put a sock in it
  • Offensive
9.2

To tell someone to stop talking and be quiet

is similar but can be less regionally marked or aggressive
to shh
vsto put a sock in it
  • Informal
8.3

Tell someone to be quiet by making a soft sound with your mouth

uses informal words to tell someone to stop talking instead
to whush
vsto put a sock in it
  • UK
9.9

To tell someone quietly to stop talking

relies on spoken informal instruction rather than gentle sound
to wheesht
vsto put a sock in it
  • UK
9.9

To tell someone to be quiet in a soft voice

uses general informal language rather than a regional interjection
to shut one's assmouth
vsto put a sock in it
  • Offensive
9.9

Tells someone to be quiet in a rude way

is informal too but avoids crude or highly offensive wording

Antonyms

to speak up
43 2.0

Talk more loudly so people can hear you

to keep the conversation going
4 3.4

Make people continue talking so the talk does not stop

How Forceful

to shut up
  • Offensive
∞ 4.1
to put a sock in it
  • UK
9 9.1
to hush
33 3.4
to be quiet
231 1.0

Surface Forms

put a sock in it infinitive
put a sock in it past
put a sock in it past participle
putting a sock in it present participle
puts a sock in it third person singular

Morphology

put + a + sock + in + it

The directive 'to stop talking' is not transparently built from the literal meanings of 'put', 'a', 'sock', 'in', and 'it'; the phrase is an informal idiom whose intended target ('it' = someone's mouth) and pragmatic force (rude command to be quiet) are not directly inferable. While a listener could imagine muffling sound by placing a sock over a mouth, that pragmatic inference is not reliably predictable for an average B1 learner, so the expression is best treated as opaque.

Etymology

The idiom put a sock in it may come from old record players where people would put a sock into the horn to make the sound much quieter. So, telling someone to put a sock in it became a blunt way to say 'be quiet'.