to put down
94
5.5
- phrasal verb
- /pʊt daʊn/
:
eutanasiar
- His owners decided the humane thing to do was to put him down.
- put down the dog
- put down by the vet
- put down the puppy
Have you have you ever had to put down a dog before?
- Have you have you ever had to put down a dog before?
- She took in my vicious dog, Bailey, who bit all of us, but who I did not have the heart to put down and who she loved to.
- Like they feel they have dogs that are in shelters, dogs that are going to be put down.
- It's just about my dog Jesse, who we had to put down.
- They they put dog down and and ate the meat.
Examples
-
They're going to be put down because no matter how hard you try, there aren't enough good homes to go around.
-
Sometimes you have to put down your dog.
-
Have you have you ever had to put down a dog before?
-
We're gonna have to put her down.
-
"Man brought him in just a while ago to be put down."
Fiction book (2002) -
I know this is difficult to hear right now; I'd like your permission to put him down.
Fiction book (1998) -
Periodically, they had to be put down when they became too much of a nuisance.
Fiction book (1994) -
My incontinent old Airedale had to be put down last year.
Fiction book (1990) -
She took in my vicious dog, Bailey, who bit all of us, but who I did not have the heart to put down and who she loved to.
-
Sometimes, veterinarians have to put down a dog to end its suffering.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Cause the death of a person, animal, or other living thing
197
4.6
Put an animal to death because it is seriously ill or dangerous
25
5.8
Kill a sick or very old animal to stop its pain
22
8.5
Causing a person or animal to die without pain to stop suffering
3
7.7
To end an animal's life to stop its suffering
To cause a painless death to stop a person or animal from suffering
To stop someone's suffering or worry, sometimes by ending their life
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
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 One common image is of ending an animal's pain by gently letting it rest, like a calm lowering or 'putting to sleep', using put and down to show a gentle action. So, the phrase means 'to kill an animal humanely' to stop its suffering.