put back

put back

See also: putback and put-back

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

put back (third-person singular simple present puts back, present participle putting back, simple past and past participle put back)

1. (transitive) To return something to its original place.

   He carefully put the vase back on the shelf.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:

     Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

2. (intransitive, nautical) To turn back; to return.
   • 1813, Robert Southey, The Life of Horatio, Lord Viscount Nelson

     The French […] had put back to Toulon.

3. (transitive) To postpone an arranged event or appointment.

   The meeting has been put back to 5.00 pm.

4. (transitive, idiomatic) To drink fast; to knock down alcohol.

   You'll need to put that drink back quickly; it's very nearly closing time.

   • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin, OCLC 17841394, page 13:

     Whisky he sipped at suspiciously, and still had not got an adult taste for; but wine he loved, and he put back champagne as if it were lager, with awful belches and chuckles after each glass.

5. (transitive, idiomatic) To change the time in a time zone to an earlier time.

   Don't forget that this Sunday we put the clocks back an hour.

Usage notes

• The object in all senses can come before or after the particle. If it is a pronoun, then it must come before the particle.

Translations

to return something to its original place

Danish: lægge tilbage Esperanto: remeti Finnish: laittaa takaisin, pistää takaisin, panna takaisin French: remettre (fr) German: zurückstellen (de) Irish: aischuir Italian: rimettere (it) Japanese: もどす (ja) (modosu) Latin: referō (la) Portuguese: retornar (pt), recolocar, pôr de volta,

to turn back; to return

Finnish: palata (fi) French: faire demi-tour (fr)

to postpone an arranged event

Danish: skyde frem Finnish: lykätä (fi) French: remettre (fr) Italian: rimandare (it)

to reset a clock to an earlier time

Danish: stille uret tilbage Finnish: siirtää taaksepäin French: reculer (fr), remettre les pendules à l’heure (fr) Portuguese: atrasar (pt)