put forth

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

1. (transitive) To give or supply; to make or create (implies trying or striving).

   to put forth an effort

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 3:

     Now, Marcus, now, thy Virtue’s on the Proof: / Put forth thy utmost Strength, work ev’ry Nerve, / And call up all thy Father in thy Soul:

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 16, in Emma: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:

     “Oh! when a gallant young man, like Mr. Frank Churchill,” said Mr. Knightley dryly, “writes to a fair lady like Miss Woodhouse, he will, of course, put forth his best.”

   • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 8, in Ruth‎^[1]:

     He could not move as quickly as most men, but he put forth his utmost speed.

   • 1950, Josephine Tey, chapter 4, in To Love and Be Wise‎^[2], New York: Pocket Book, published 1977, page 36:

     But his actor’s need to be liked was stronger than his resentment, and he was putting forth all his charm in an effort to win over this so-unexpected antagonist.

2. (transitive) To extend forward (a body part or something held).
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 14:27:

     […] he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb […]

   • 1613, John Donne, “Epithalamion made at Lincolnes Inne”, in Poems‎^[3], London: John Marriot, published 1633, page 135:

     Put forth, put forth that warme balme-breathing thigh,
     Which when next time you in these sheets wil smother
     There it must meet another,
     Which never was, but must be, oft, more nigh;

   • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, canto 3, page 22:

     With his broad Sabre next, a Chief in Years, / The hoary Majesty of Spades appears; / Puts forth one manly Leg, to sight reveal’d; / The rest his many-colour’d Robe conceal’d.

3. (transitive) To advance, offer, propose (often verbally).
   • 1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signatures D2, verso – D3, recto:

     They put forth queſtions of Aſtrologie, / VVhich Fauſtus anſwerd with ſuch learned ſkill, / As they admirde and wondred at his wit.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 13:24:

     Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

   • 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 1, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 15:

     So far as one can ascertain from the conflicting accounts that have been put forth, the majority of them remained busied with preparations […]

   • 1920, Edith Wharton, chapter 26, in The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     By the fifteenth the season was in full blast, Opera and theatres were putting forth their new attractions, dinner-engagements were accumulating, and dates for dances being fixed.

   • 1958, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited‎^[4], New York: Harper & Bros., c. 1962, Chapter 11:

     In its present form, the social order depends for its continued existence on the acceptance, without too many embarrassing questions, of the propaganda put forth by those in authority and the propaganda hallowed by the local traditions.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To send (someone) out, remove (someone) from a place.
   • 1610, John Healey, transl., St. Augustine, Of the Citie of God‎^[5], London: George Eld, Book 14, Chapter 21, p. 524:

     […] they begot no children vntill they were put forth of Paradise […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 5:34:

     Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;

5. (transitive) To emit, send out, give off (light, odour, etc.).
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 17:

     For inward light alas / Puts forth no visual beam.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 6, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book 12, page 367:

     […] now the Moon beginning to put forth her Silver Light, as the Poets call it (tho’ she looked at that Time more like a Piece of Copper) Jones called for his Reckoning […]

   • 1807, William Wordsworth, Untitled poem in Poems, in Two Volumes, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, Volume 1, p. 66,^[6]

     Upon a leaf the Glow-worm did I lay,

     To bear it with me through the stormy night:

     And, as before, it shone without dismay;

     Albeit putting forth a fainter light.

   • c. 1811, William Blake, edited by E.R.D. Maclagan and A.G.B. Russell, Milton: A Poem in Two Books‎^[7], London: A. H. Bullen, published 1907, Book Two, p. 34:

     Thou perceivest the Flowers put forth their precious Odours,
     And none can tell how from so small a center comes such sweet,

6. (transitive, intransitive) To grow, shoot, bud, or germinate.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     […] her hedges even-pleach’d, / Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair, / Put forth disorder’d twigs;

   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “VI. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], page 137, →OCLC:

     […] [t]ake from vnder Walls, or the like, where Nettles put forth in abundance, the Earth which you shall there finde […]

   • 1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 11, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe‎^[8], New York: Macmillan:

     Soon the beech trees had put forth their delicate, transparent leaves.

7. (transitive, intransitive) (of a ship) To leave (a port or haven).
   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene x]:

     […] order for sea is given; / They have put forth the haven [—] / Where their appointment we may best discover, / And look on their endeavour.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     And where but from Nantucket, too, did that first adventurous little sloop put forth, partly laden with imported cobblestones—so goes the story—to throw at the whales, in order to discover when they were nigh enough to risk a harpoon from the bowsprit?

Usage notes

In contemporary English, put forth is generally used in more formal or literary contexts.

Related terms

• put forward
• put out
• put up

Anagrams

• forthput