put away

put away idiom
  1. Place in a designated spot for storage; also, place out of reach. For example, Please put away your clothes, or This young tennis player can really put away the ball. Also see set aside, def. 1.
  2. Renounce, discard, as in Put away all those negative thoughts. [Late 1300s]
  3. Consume quickly, ingest readily, as in He put away his dinner in just a few minutes. [Colloquial; late 1800s]
  4. Confine to a mental health facility, as in The doctor said we had to put her away. [Colloquial; late 1800s]
  5. Kill, as in The vet put our old cat away. [Colloquial; late 1500s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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