Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
put paid to en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(UK, dated) To mark a bill or a debt record as "paid".
Well, then, I'll put paid to that little account.
1893 December, Mrs. Alexander, “Found Wanting”, in Belgravia, volume 82, page 353:
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(UK) To put an end to.
The Guardian recently uncovered nearly 200 new projects – “carbon bombs” – that if completed would put paid to the world’s chances of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
2022 June 17, Fiona Harvey, “Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack”, in The Guardian:When peace came in 1802 she regained a measure of control, but it was wrested from her when war with Britain broke out once more in 1805 and Nelson put paid to Spanish sea power in the Atlantic at the Battle of Trafalgar.
1992, Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America, London; New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 204:This puts paid to the argument that a claimant who comes to a nuisance has impliedly consented to the continuance of that nuisance.
2013, Allan Beever, The Law of Private Nuisance, page 60:If Harry had always seemed a sickly child, Harrow put paid to notions that he was really a physical weakling.
2010, David Brown, Palmerston: A Biography:
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(UK, idiomatic) To terminate; to cancel (plans or expectations); to preclude (possibilities); to stop (something) once and for all.
The rain put paid to our plans for a picnic.
Forms
Synonyms
put an end to · put a stop to · finish off