Meanings
present singular third person puts a sock in it · participle present putting a sock in it
- derogatoryhumorousidiomaticslangTo 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.
1 more example
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."
1943 September and October, T. Lovatt Williams, “Some Reminiscences of the Footplate—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 271Synonyms: stick a sock in it, stuff a sock in it
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo stop talking; to be quiet; to shut one's mouth.
Origin
Possibly from a crude means of muffling a record player's speaker.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Russian затыкаться
- затыкаться (zatykatʹsja)To stop talking; to be quiet; to shut one's mouth
Cite this entry
put a sock in it. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20a%20sock%20in%20it
“put a sock in it.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20a%20sock%20in%20it. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “put a sock in it,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20a%20sock%20in%20it.
Source: put a sock in it on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.