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to put to sleep

to put to sleep

15 2.5
Help a child or baby fall asleep in bed
  • phrasal verb
  • Baby Talk
translation icon : arrullar
  • Mrs. Flemming had fed and put Pearl to sleep.
  • put to sleep the baby
  • put to sleep at night
  • put to sleep the kid

And I hope this puts you to sleep or helps relax you.

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Examples

Synonyms

to cause to sleep
vsto put to sleep
3.9

To make someone fall asleep

helps a person, especially a child, follow a bedtime routine to sleep

Antonyms

1.0

To stop sleeping or make someone else stop sleeping

236 3.7

Make a person or thing more active, alert and responsive

How Sleepy

to put to sleep
  • Baby Talk
15 2.5
to settle
540 2.8
to lull
19 5.2
to calm
962 1.0
to soothe
63 3.4

Surface Forms

put to sleep infinitive
put to sleep past participle
putting to sleep present participle
puts to sleep third person singular

Morphology

put + to + sleep

The meaning 'place into a low-power or inactive state' is directly derivable from combining 'put' (bring something into a state) with 'sleep' (a state of inactivity/rest) and fits the common English pattern 'put X to Y' meaning 'cause X to enter Y'. Although the phrase can have a different idiomatic sense (e.g., euthanasia) in other contexts, the device-related sense is a straightforward metaphorical extension of the literal constituents and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the words.

Etymology

Put to sleep comes from the simple image of an adult gently placing a child in bed or rocking them until they fall asleep. That's why the phrase means 'to help someone go to bed and fall asleep'.