to put away
3
3.4
- phrasal verb
- /pʊt əˈweɪ/
- Informal
:
zamparse
- Mother and Aunt Stacia had often complained about both his table manners and how much food he could put away.
- put away food
- guys can put away
- put away two
Damn little lady, you sure can't put it away.
- Damn little lady, you sure can't put it away.
Examples
-
Did you see him put the booze away at lunch?
Fiction book (1995) -
I used to put away a few Old Styles there after work, waiting for the rush hour to die down.
Blog text (30) -
That man put away enough to stuff a field hand.
-
Do him good after that lunch he put away.
-
I could put away at least a quarter of one of these bad boys in one sitting, no problem.
Blog text (18) -
I swear to God, I put away half a keg last night.
-
If you ask me, you've got a hangover from all that beer you put away last night.
-
Lana was drinking fast—she had always been a sipper, although she could put it away over the long haul.
Fiction book (1998) -
In Moscow, in the kitchen of his tiny apartment, Boris once put away enough vodka to let him pass through drunkenness into another stage, a kind of clarity and grim sobriety.
Fiction book (1997) -
Back in my college days, I could put away a carton of the stuff.
Synonyms
161
3.3
To eat or use something quickly until it is finished
109
5.8
To eat a lot quickly until you feel too full
19
3.0
To eat something quickly and eagerly
13
2.9
To eat food quickly because you are very hungry
7
7.5
Eat a very large amount of food without control
3
8.2
To eat a lot of food very quickly
2
4.0
To eat a lot of food eagerly
2
3.7
Eat all the food very quickly
1
5.7
To eat a lot of food quickly while enjoying it
To eat a lot of food very quickly
To eat a lot of food quickly and greedily
Antonyms
How Much
12
5.9
- Informal
3
3.4
13
2.9
∞
1.0
10
2.5
56
2.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to dismiss or set aside' is directly related to 'put' (place) + 'away' (to a removed/stored location), so a learner who knows both words can infer a concrete sense like 'put aside' or 'store'. However, the specific mental sense 'stop thinking about' is a metaphorical extension from the spatial meaning and may not be fully predictable without prior exposure to this figurative use, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Put away meaning to eat a lot comes from the picture of moving food into a place, as if you are putting it away into your stomach. That's why it means 'to eat or consume a large amount of food'.