To halt, eliminate, stop, or squelch, often by force.
The government quickly put down the insurrection.
22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/ For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.
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When the Nexus first arrived in Andromeda and an uprising arose among the desperate crew, it was William Spender who convinced clan leader Nakmor Morda to put down the mutineers. By all accounts, it did not go well.2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nexus: William Spender Codex entry:
Rex was in so much pain, they had to put him down.
A couple walking in Kirkleatham Woods, Redcar, heard whimpering and found the terrier-type animal in a mound of earth at about midday. It was rushed to a vet but its injuries were so serious it had to be put down.2016, Dog found buried alive in Redcar with nail in head, BBC:
5
Euphemistic To execute (a person), especially extrajudicially.
The only thing left to do before putting the plan into action was checking the barracks for stragglers, and putting them down. She placed the first three bombs, then crept to the final door and opened it.2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
6
To write (something).
Put down the first thing you think of on this piece of paper.
I hope you don't mind That I put down in words How wonderful life is while you're in the world1970, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, “Your Song”, in Elton John, performed by Elton John:
7
To terminate a call on (a telephone); to hang up.
Ray eventually called at 7pm and took the school’s side. He sounded imperious and distant and made me even angrier. I told him he sounded just like my father, and put the phone down on him.1992 June 24, Edwina Currie, Diary:
Don't put the phone down. I want a quick word with him, too.
8
To add a name to a list.
I've put myself down for the new Spanish conversation course.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see put, down.
Why don't you put down your briefcase and stay awhile?
"There he is!" cried Mrs. Flanders, coming round the rock and covering the whole space of the beach in a few seconds. "What has he got hold of? Put it down, Jacob! Drop it this moment!1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:
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As she did so Fanny put down her book, stood up and stretched her arms, and at once Jessamy noticed a difference.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 105:
Idiomatic An insult or barb; a snide or demeaning remark.
When he called you a know-it-all, he meant it as a put-down.
But it’s not [Pam] Bondi’s script that matters most. It’s her voice, and the attorney general got the tone of it — the poison in it — just right when she spat those put-downs at those men during her, um, testimony before a House panel last week.2026 February 16, Frank Bruni, “Pam Bondi and the MAGA Brand of Insult Politics”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2026: