Dictionary

put away en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Meanings

1. (transitive) To put (something) in its usual storage place; to place out of the way, clean up.
   • I put the clothes away so as to neaten the room.
   • They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too. 1879, Richard Jefferies, chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher:
   • Please put away the tools when you are finished.
2. (transitive) To store, add to one's stores for later use.
   • Preparing for the worst, they put away food for the winter.
   • putting a little away for a rainy day
3. (colloquial, transitive) To consume (food or drink), especially in large quantities.
   • "Beautiful!" gasped the curate, gazing at Limpet with watering eyes; and Limpet, who seemed to find the curate's definition perfectly correct, put away the rest of his beer with professional skill, and waited for the curate to finish - a business which the curate, driven to desperation, accomplished in three frantic gulps that bereft him wholly of breath, and caused his eyes to water more than ever. 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 24:
   • The blonde one, old Bernice, was drinking bourbon and water. She was really putting it away, too. 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 97:
   • You wouldn't think such a small person could put away so much food.
   • He’s really putting it away! / NOMF NOMF 2022, Hitomi Takano, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian, “Happy Ending”, in My Boy, volume 9, New York, N.Y.: Vertical Comics, →ISBN, page 16:
4. (transitive) To send (someone) to prison or mental asylum.
   • After he was convicted, they put him away for 10 years.
5. (transitive) To kill someone.
   • It's Decoration Day. And I knew the Hill Boys would put us away, but my Daddy wasn't afraid. He said "We'll fight till the last Lawson's last living day" 2003, Jason Isbell, Decoration Day:
6. (broadly, qualifier:combat sports, transitive) To knock out an opponent.
   • He put away his opponent in the first round.
7. (formal, literary, transitive) To discard, divest oneself of.
   • When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Corinthians XIII:11:
8. (obsolete, transitive) To fend off, deflect; to dismiss.
   • Also he told kynge Arthur that he shold mysse hym / yet had ye leuer than al your landes to haue me ageyne / A sayd the kynge / syn ye knowe of your aduenture puruey for hit / and put awey by your craftes that mysauenture / Nay said Merlyn it wylle not be / soo he departed from the kynge. 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “j”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
9. (archaic, transitive) To divorce.
   • And the pharyſes cam and axed hym a queſtion: whether it were laufull foꝛ a mã to putt awaye hys wyfe. 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark x:[2], folio lviij, verso:
10. To take a large lead in a game, especially enough to guarantee victory or make the game no longer competitive.
    • They put the game away by scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
11. To strike out a batter.
12. To catch a fly ball or tag out a baserunner.
13. To hit the ball in such a way that the opponent cannot reach it; see passing shot.

Forms

Antonyms

take out

Coordinates

lay by · lay away · put by · lay aside · lay in · store away · store · lay up · save · store up · put aside

Relateds

pack away

Synonyms

store · stow

Translations (36)

es guardar (to place out of the way) · de zurücklegen (to store for later use) · ga cuir i dtaisce (to store for later use) · ca desar (to place out of the way) · pt guardar (to place out of the way) · fi laittaa talteen (to store for later use) · fi panna syrjään (to store for later use) · it mettere via (to place out of the way) · la abdō (to place out of the way) · de wegräumen (to place out of the way) · eo formeti (to place out of the way) · pt estocar (to store for later use) · uk прибра́ти (to place out of the way) · ru убира́ть (to place out of the way) · cmn 收拾 (to place out of the way) · uk відкла́сти (to place out of the way) · fi panna talteen (to store for later use) · ja 片付ける (to place out of the way) · pt armazenar (to store for later use) · es arrecadar (to place out of the way) · fi laittaa sivuun (to store for later use) · zdj uhamisi (to place out of the way) · de weglegen (to place out of the way) · ja しまう (to place out of the way) · fr ranger (to place out of the way) · fi törsätä (to consume in large quantities) · fi panna sivuun (to store for later use) · ru убра́ть (to place out of the way) · la condō (to store for later use) · fi panna paikoilleen (to place out of the way) · de weglegen (to store for later use) · uk відклада́ти (to place out of the way) · fi säästää (to store for later use) · uk прибира́ти (to place out of the way) · fi laittaa syrjään (to store for later use) · fi ahmia (to consume in large quantities)