put back
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Verb
put back (third-person singular simple present puts back, present participle putting back, simple past and past participle put back)
- (transitive) To return something to its original place.
- He carefully put the vase back on the shelf.
- Template:RQ:EHough PrqsPrc
- 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.
- (intransitive, nautical) To turn back; to return.
- (Can we date this quote by Robert Southey and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The French […] had put back to Toulon.
- (Can we date this quote by Robert Southey and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (transitive) To postpone an arranged event or appointment.
- The meeting has been put back to 5.00 pm.
- (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, Penguin Books, paperback edition, p.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.
- (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
to turn back; to return
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to postpone an arranged event
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to reset a clock to an earlier time
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- English phrasal verbs with particle (back)