put away

present singular third person puts away · participle present putting away

1. transitiveTo put (something) in its usual storage place; to place out of the way, clean up.

   Please put away the tools when you are finished.

   2 more examples

   I put the clothes away so as to neaten the room.

   They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

   1879, Richard Jefferies, chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher

   Synonyms: store, stow · Antonyms: take out

2. transitiveTo store, add to one's stores for later use.

   putting a little away for a rainy day

   1 more example

   Preparing for the worst, they put away food for the winter.

3. colloquialtransitiveTo consume (food or drink), especially in large quantities.

   You wouldn't think such a small person could put away so much food.

   3 more examples

   "Beautiful!" gasped the curate, gazing at Limpet with watering eyes; and Limpet, who seemed to find the curate's definition perfectly correct, put away the rest of his beer with professional skill, and waited for the curate to finish - a business which the curate, driven to desperation, accomplished in three frantic gulps that bereft him wholly of breath, and caused his eyes to water more than ever.

   1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 24

   The blonde one, old Bernice, was drinking bourbon and water. She was really putting it away, too.

   1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 97

   He’s really putting it away! / NOMF NOMF

   2022, Hitomi Takano, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian, “Happy Ending”, in My Boy, volume 9, New York, N.Y.: Vertical Comics, →ISBN, page 16

4. transitiveTo send (someone) to prison or mental asylum.

   After he was convicted, they put him away for 10 years.

5. transitiveTo kill someone.

   It's Decoration Day. And I knew the Hill Boys would put us away, but my Daddy wasn't afraid. He said "We'll fight till the last Lawson's last living day"

   2003, Jason Isbell, Decoration Day

6. broadlytransitivecombat sportsTo knock out an opponent.

   He put away his opponent in the first round.

7. formalliterarytransitiveTo discard, divest oneself of.

   When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Corinthians XIII:11

8. obsoletetransitiveTo fend off, deflect; to dismiss.

   Also he told kynge Arthur that he shold mysse hym / yet had ye leuer than al your landes to haue me ageyne / A sayd the kynge / syn ye knowe of your aduenture puruey for hit / and put awey by your craftes that mysauenture / Nay said Merlyn it wylle not be / soo he departed from the kynge.

   1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “j”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV

9. archaictransitiveTo divorce.

   And the pharyſes cam and axed hym a queſtion: whether it were laufull foꝛ a mã to putt awaye hys wyfe.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark x:[2], folio lviij, verso

10. hobbiesTo take a large lead in a game, especially enough to guarantee victory or make the game no longer competitive.

    They put the game away by scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

11. ball gamesTo strike out a batter.
12. ball gamesTo catch a fly ball or tag out a baserunner.
13. hobbiesTo hit the ball in such a way that the opponent cannot reach it; see passing shot.