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put in

phraseB22 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To put in is to spend time or effort on something. Hours, work, or a good word for somebody.

The effort sense is the commonest, so putting in the hours and putting in a shift are both compliments about hard work. It has several other jobs: putting in an application means submitting one, putting in a good word for somebody means recommending them, and a ship putting in at a port is stopping there. The noun input comes from the same idea and belongs entirely to work and data.

Definitions of put in

  1. 1phraseput inTo devote time or effort to something.B2

    “She had to put in a great many extra hours.”

  2. 2phrasesubmitTo submit something formally.B2

    “He decided to put in a claim after all.”

Where it comes from

From put + in.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 7 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word