put a sock in it

English

Alternative forms

• stick a sock in it
• stuff a sock in it

Etymology

Possibly from a crude means of muffling a record player's speaker.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

put a sock in it (third-person singular simple present puts a sock in it, present participle putting a sock in it, simple past and past participle put a sock in it)

1. (figuratively, informal, humorous, idiomatic) To stop talking; to be quiet; to shut one's mouth.

   He went on and on until I finally told him to put a sock in it.

   • 1943 September and October, T. Lovatt Williams, “Some Reminiscences of the Footplate—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 271:

     I found out from his mate that he was a Longfellow fan, and the fireman complained bitterly that, not being poetically inclined himself, he often wished that Alfred would "put a sock in it."

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:stop talking

Translations

To stop talking; to be quiet; to shut one's mouth

• Russian: затыкаться (ru) (zatykatʹsja)

Further reading

• “put a sock in it”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.