An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'put out', with lots of examples in context
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Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
How well do you know the phrasal verb 'put out'? Do you know all of the different ways to use it in English? For example, did you know that it can be used to talk about topics as diverse as fires, physical injury, manufacturing and mathematical calculations?! Do not worry if you didn't as in this post, I will explain all of these different meanings for you, with lots of examples in context to help your understanding. So, without further ado, let's make a start.
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PUT OUT: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table, click hereÂ
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 8 |
Past tense forms | Put out / Put out |
Separable? | Yes |
Photo: Pexels
THE BASICS
As the first step in our exploration of the phrasal verb 'put out', let's consider the meanings of the words 'put' and 'out' on their own.
The verb 'to put' is an extremely common irregular verb in English that native speakers use in a variety of different ways. Perhaps the most common of its meanings is 'to place' or 'to move something to a position', especially when referring to objects.
I put my car keys on the table when I walked in.
Where you have you put my coat?
Aside from this meaning, 'to put' can also be used to mean 'to write' or 'to express in words' and it is frequently combined with prepositional particles to form phrasal verbs, such as put out, put on and put off.
Speaking of prepositional particles, 'out' is a highly versatile word in English with a wide range of different meanings and uses. It serves as both a preposition and an adverb and can also even function as a verb. Additionally, it is the direct opposite of the particle 'in' and is used to talk about being in, or moving towards an external space. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'out' can convey the ideas of visibility, completion, exhaustion, movement away from something and extinguishing.
So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'put out'....
MEANING 1: To put something in an exterior place
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CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To take out, to leave out |
Separable? | Yes |
Our first meaning of 'put out' is more or less the literal version of the combination of the two component words 'put' and 'out', i.e. 'to put something in an external place'.
As you can probably work out, this meaning is essentially describing the action of taking something from an inside location or storage and placing it somewhere outside of that space. This is typically done in situations when we want people to notice or use the item that has been 'put out'. For example, when hosting an overnight guest, you might put out a towel for them to use in the morning, or when setting up a room for a party, you could put out ashtrays for smokers. The key concept is that the items that you put out are usually kept or stored somewhere internal like a cupboard or box until they are required.
Can you put the menus out on the tables?
I'll put a towel out for you in case you want a shower in the morning.
Jane puts food out in her garden every night for the foxes to eat.
You may have already guessed from the picture above that another time we use this is when we remove the trash (rubbish UK) from our houses and leave it by the side of the road to be collected. In this instance, it is likely that you will hear people referring to "putting out the trash" or "putting out the bins / rubbish", depending on which side of the Atlantic ocean they live.
Don't forget to put the trash out tonight!
Sally puts the bins out every Wednesday evening.
MEANING 2: To extinguish something
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CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To snuff out, to turn off, to quench, to blow out, to dowse, to switch off, to turn out, to smother |
Separable? | Yes |
The second meaning of 'put out' is 'to extinguish' and is mainly used for things that provide warmth and light.
Nouns commonly used with this meaning:
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In other words, this meaning of 'put out' can be used to express when we stop a fire from burning or when we stop a light from shining and remove the source of heat or light. I would say that in contemporary English we tend to use this more to refer to extinguishing fire and things that are burning.
While 'put out' is still used in reference to lights, it was more prevalent in the past when fire and candles served as the main sources of illumination. Today, it is more customary to use phrasal verbs like 'switch off', 'turn off', and 'turn out' when referring to lights.
From a grammatical perspective, this usage is separable and is used both separably and inseparably by native speakers with no change in meaning.
One common noun that you may hear this with, especially if you are a smoker, is 'cigarette'. If you put a cigarette out, you stop it from burning and producing smoke.
Firefighters have been working to put out the blaze since 3am this morning.
Do not go back into the building until you are certain that the fire has been put out.
Jamie put his cigarette out and threw it into the bushes.
Please can you put the light out now.
MEANING 3: To publish or circulate
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To publish, to publicise, to circulate, to issue, to release, to spread |
Separable? | Yes |
We live in an age of mass information and just as you are reading this blog post online now, we have information about anything and everything that we can access within seconds thanks to the internet. Of course, all of this information must be made accessible to people online, which is where our third meaning of 'put out' becomes relevant, as it means 'to publish something'.
Nouns that this application is commonly used with:
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As you can see from the list above, this application of 'put out' can be used with any nouns to describe things that can be published, circulated or made available for public consumption.
We use this with information in general when we want to make people aware of something and consequently then with news and news stories. If the police want to make some information about a crime or a situation public, they will put out a statement. Likewise, if a famous person wants to publicly apologise for something, they will put out an apology.
When the Queen died, broadcasters stopped their normal programmes to put out the news.
There are so many fake news stories that are put out online every day that it is difficult to know which stories to believe.
The police are expected to put a statement out later today on the high profile murder case.
The movie star put out a public apology for any offence that his comments had caused.
Moreover, we can also use this application with music. If you ever listen to interviews with your favourite English speaking music artists, you will probably hear them talking about putting out a new album or new music, especially if the interview is in promotion of the new material.
Likewise, authors and writers will also use 'put out' when talking about new books and work that they have done as an alternative to the verb ' to publish', although I think they use it less commonly than musical artists do.
I've been working on a new album for the last few months and I am hopefully going to put it out early next year.
The band put out a new single yesterday, which is expected to reach number one on the chart.
My friend was signed to a publisher last year and is now contracted to put out two new books per year.
MEANING 4: To inconvenience someone
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To inconvenience, to trouble, to disturb, to bother, to burden, to impose upon |
Separable? | Yes |
The fourth meaning of 'put out' that we will cover is 'to inconvenience someone' and is a bit of a negative one in nature.
Firstly, if you don't know what this means, it refers to creating a problem or inconvenience for someone, normally by causing them to make a lot of effort for you.
Let's look at an example to help your understanding of this...
Imagine you're hosting a dinner party, and one of your friends asks if they can bring their child, although you had planned an adult-only evening. You agree to let them bring the child, but now you need to make extra arrangements, like preparing child-friendly food or finding activities to keep the child entertained. In this case, your friend has "put you out" by creating extra work or inconvenience, even though you agreed to it.
From a grammatical perspective, this usage is always used separably, with the direct object (the person experiencing the inconvenience) going between the words 'put' and 'out'. Furthermore, this is frequently heard in the expression 'don't put yourself out', which is used to advise someone not to do something if it will cause them inconvenience.
My Dad had to drive my Aunt and Uncle all the way back to London as they refused to get the train and it put him out a bit.
If you can prepare the report for tomorrow, I'd be very grateful but don't put yourself out. I can wait until next week if you don't have time.
Naturally, people who are put out due to the selfish demands and requests of others often tend to feel angry or irritated and this leads me to tell you about the passive construction 'to be put out', which means 'to be annoyed or upset'. Although this expression is linked to the idea of inconvenience that we just looked at, it is in fact mainly used when someone feels offended or unhappy by something that someone has said.
After John made that joke about Helen, you could tell that she was really put out.
I was a bit put out by what you said but I forgive you now.
MEANING 5: To produce or manufacture
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To produce, to manufacture, to fabricate, to yield, to churn out |
Separable? | Yes |
The fifth meaning of 'put out' is a good one for those of you who want to improve your business English and also for those who work in manufacturing as it simply means 'to produce' or 'to manufacture'.
Typically, we use this application for large scale manufacturing, i.e. for products that are mass produced in factories. We use 'put out' here to describe the amount of a product that is produced by a company or business, often over a period of time such as a month or a year. You may be aware of the noun 'output', which is a noun used to refer to this production amount and I'm sure that you don't need me to explain the linguistic link 😉
The factory puts out thousands of cars every month to meet global demand.
They plan to put out more units of the smartphone after the initial batch sold out so quickly.
The manufacturer puts out a wide range of appliances, from refrigerators to washing machines.
Outside of the business world, one other way that we can use this application of 'put out', albeit in a slightly different sense, is with vehicles and machines. As the vast majority of these produce energy when they are operated, typically in the form of heat, power or noise, we can use put out here to refer to this energy that they create. We are still talking about production here, however it is in reference to energy, rather than manufactured items.
The engine puts out 300 horsepower, making the car incredibly fast on the highway.
The battery started putting out a lot of heat shortly after turning the machine on.
This generator could put out enough electricity to power an entire building during a power cut.
MEANING 6: To outsource work
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To outsource, to source out, to farm out |
Separable? | Yes |
The sixth meaning of 'put out' is another one that is useful for anybody interested in business English as this one is 'to outsource work'.
If you're not familiar with the term 'outsourcing', it refers to the practise of offering a contract of work to a person or company that is not part of your business. In other words, you recruit a person to do some work for you who is from outside of your organisation. Whilst the verb 'to outsource' is a perfectly good one to use in this scenario, you may also hear of companies "putting work out" as an alternative way to talk about this practice.
The startup chose to put the design work out to a specialised graphic design firm to focus on marketing.
Lisa's company put out their IT support to a third-party vendor to reduce costs.
The organisation is currently in consultation about whether or not to put the manufacturing of its products out to companies abroad.
MEANING 7: To dislocate a joint
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To dislocate |
Separable? | Yes |
Let's move away from the business world and into the medical world for our seventh and penultimate meaning of 'put out', which is 'to dislocate a joint'.
To clarify this, if you dislocate a joint, such as a shoulder, ankle or knee, then you move it from its normal position in the body. For example, if you put your shoulder out, then your shoulder bone is moved out of its normal place, causing a lot of pain and requiring a long period of recovery afterwards.
Despite not being a joint, one other part of the body that this application of 'put out' is often used with is the back. If someone says that they have "put their back out", it means that they have injured their back in such a way that their movement is compromised and they are in a lot of pain.
You should note that this is a very informal usage and it is unlikely that you will never hear a medical professional use this term, however it is certainly one that may come up in informal conversations with native speakers.
He put out his shoulder while lifting heavy boxes at work.
I think I put my back out trying to move that couch by myself.
Elizabeth put out her knee during the football game and had to be taken off the field.
Don't lift it like that or you'll put your back out!
MEANING 8: To cause a figure to be wrong
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To skew, to distort, to misrepresent |
Separable? | Yes |
The eighth and final main meaning of 'put out' that I want to explain to you in this post is 'to cause a figure to be wrong'.
When I am talking about figures here, I am referring to numerical figures and in particular this application is used in reference to those that have already been mathematically calculated. If there is any kind of change that affects or influences the figures that were used for a calculation, resulting in inaccurate or different outcomes, we can say that the changes have put the figures or the results out.
The unexpected expenses put out budget estimates out, so we'll need to revise them.
The incorrect data entry put the final sales report out, leading to a significant discrepancy.
A mistake in the formula put out the entire financial forecast for the quarter.
ADDITIONAL MEANINGS AND IDIOMS
As you will now be aware, 'put out' has a surprising number of different meanings, however there are some other specific meanings that I want to quickly explain to you, as well as some idiomatic expressions featuring 'put out' that are in common use in everyday English....
To put out for someone - This is an informal and slightly vulgar expression that means 'to agree to have sex with someone'. It is more American in usage but I hear it more and more in British English now too.
Did you put out for him in the end?
To make someone unconscious - If you've ever had to undergo a medical operation, it is likely that you had to be put out for it as this means to be made unconscious by the use of drugs or anaesthesia.
We are going to have to put you out for this operation.
To put out to sea - This is an expression that is used to refer to boats and ships. When they put out to sea, it means that they leave the harbour or port and sail out into the open ocean.
The ship is due to put out to sea at 6pm, so please make sure that you are back on board an hour beforehand.
To put out feelers - This idiomatic expression is used to mean to explore or investigate a situation in order to get some feedback before making any official announcements or changes. This can often be simply asking for people's preferences in a given situation.
Let's put out the feelers with the staff and gauge how they would react if we implemented the changes.
To put someone's nose out of joint - Earlier on in the post, I explained how we can use 'put out' with joints like ankles and knees, however we can also use it with a nose, albeit in an idiomatic way. If you put someone's nose out of joint, you offend them or disrespect them in some way and it is often linked to when someone's pride is hurt.
His constant criticism of her work put her nose out of joint, and now she’s not speaking to him.
To put someone out of their misery - This final idiomatic expression that I will share with you is one that means to end a long period of waiting for information by telling someone the information that they have wanted to know.
Oh, please just put me out of my misery and tell me what the results of my IELTS test were.
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We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on it and reading it. I hope that you found it useful and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
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