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Glite Dictionary
📦 To place ✍️ To write 🌈 To euthanize 😞 To belittle 🚌 To drop off 🛬 To land
to put down

to put down

45 3.4
To leave people or things at a place from a vehicle
  • phrasal verb
  • /pʊt daʊn/
translation icon : dejar a
  • Thea put the dog down on the floor in front of Quinn.
  • put down the kids
  • put down here

Examples

  • What if I put you down here?

  • And then we put the ROV down to see what was there.

  • Let me put you guys down here for my birthday.

  • Well hurry up and put us down will ya?

    Give Them Wings (2021)

  • -Can Mommy put you down?

    Striptease (1996)

  • The priest put the paper down on the table.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Put us down there.

    Elemental (2023)

  • Put me down!

    Hook (1991)

  • Put me down.

    Halloween (1978)

  • The taxi driver put down us at the entrance of the festival.

Synonyms

to drop
vsto put down
722 2.7

To take someone or something from a vehicle and leave them at a place

is the same action but stresses leaving them at a particular place
to drop off
vsto put down
400 3.0

To take someone or something to a place and leave them there

focuses on simple removal and leaving rather than delivering with intent
to unload
vsto put down
125 2.6

Take things or people out of a vehicle like a truck

is narrower, focusing on removing and leaving at a particular place rather than general unloading
to set down
vsto put down
4 3.2

To take people or goods off a vehicle and leave them at a place

is the same removal but highlights doing this especially from vehicles

Antonyms

to load
572 1.0

To put things onto a vehicle or into a container

Surface Forms

put down infinitive
put down past
put down past participle
putting down present participle
puts down third person singular

Morphology

put + down

The sense of lowering someone (put = place; down = lower/low) gives a clear metaphorical route from the literal constituents to the idiomatic meaning of belittling, so learners who know both words can often infer the general idea. However, the shift from a physical action to a social/ evaluative meaning (criticize or demean) is a metaphorical extension and not strictly compositional or fully predictable, so it is only partially transparent to B1 learners.

Etymology

Put down The idea is like helping someone or something out of a vehicle by lowering them onto the street or a place, with put (place) and down (onto the ground). That is why drivers say they will 'put down' passengers or cargo at a stop.