"put to work" meaning in English

See put to work in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-put to work.ogg Forms: puts to work [present, singular, third-person], putting to work [participle, present], put to work [participle, past], put to work [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|put<,,put> to work}} put to work (third-person singular simple present puts to work, present participle putting to work, simple past and past participle put to work)
  1. (idiomatic) to put to use Tags: idiomatic Translations (to put to use): işə salmaq (Azerbaijani)
    Sense id: en-put_to_work-en-verb-AKqkH83a Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Azerbaijani translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 88 12 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 92 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 86 14 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Azerbaijani translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of 'to put to use': 98 2
  2. Give a job; Force to work (even if it is make-work)
    Sense id: en-put_to_work-en-verb-AFtfeaEi

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "puts to work",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "putting to work",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put to work",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put to work",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "put<,,put> to work"
      },
      "expansion": "put to work (third-person singular simple present puts to work, present participle putting to work, simple past and past participle put to work)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Azerbaijani translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, David L. Goetsch, Taking Your Faith to Work, →ISBN, page 26:",
          "text": "Clearly, empathy is a Scriptural concept that Christians can put to work in becoming better leaders.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Elisabeth Doucett, Creating Your Library Brand, →ISBN, page 26:",
          "text": "Once you develop a great brand, you need to put it to work. The simple rule of thumb is that you should use your brand everywhere you can.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Kevin Cameron, Sportbike Performance Handbook, →ISBN, page 103:",
          "text": "But there is useful energy in the exhaust pressure pulse, and what a turbocharger does is to put it to work driving a supercharger.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to put to use"
      ],
      "id": "en-put_to_work-en-verb-AKqkH83a",
      "links": [
        [
          "put to use",
          "put to use"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) to put to use"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "sense": "to put to use",
          "word": "işə salmaq"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, David P. Levine, Welfare, Right and the State: A Framework for Thinking, →ISBN, page 28:",
          "text": "Insistence that those who become dependent on the state be put to work seeks to impose the demands of the reality principle on them or to punish them by forcing them to do the unskilled work inconsistent with creative living.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Jerry Bruce Thomas, An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression, →ISBN, page 28:",
          "text": "The able-bodied unemployed, who were without work because of the Depression, he believed should be put to work by the federal government at wages higher than the dole but lower than the prevailing wage so as not to encourage the rejection of opportunities for private employment \"until economic recovery would make work relief unnecessary.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Rodney Dale Whipple, Lorna Lynch, Say Goodbye To Skolobow, →ISBN, page 167:",
          "text": "That night, he told Ernst that Peter wanted to put him to work “to keep him out of trouble,” as he'd put it.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Give a job; Force to work (even if it is make-work)"
      ],
      "id": "en-put_to_work-en-verb-AFtfeaEi",
      "links": [
        [
          "job",
          "job"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "make-work",
          "make-work"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-put to work.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-au-put_to_work.ogg/En-au-put_to_work.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-au-put_to_work.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "put to work"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Azerbaijani translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "puts to work",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "putting to work",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put to work",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put to work",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "put<,,put> to work"
      },
      "expansion": "put to work (third-person singular simple present puts to work, present participle putting to work, simple past and past participle put to work)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, David L. Goetsch, Taking Your Faith to Work, →ISBN, page 26:",
          "text": "Clearly, empathy is a Scriptural concept that Christians can put to work in becoming better leaders.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Elisabeth Doucett, Creating Your Library Brand, →ISBN, page 26:",
          "text": "Once you develop a great brand, you need to put it to work. The simple rule of thumb is that you should use your brand everywhere you can.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Kevin Cameron, Sportbike Performance Handbook, →ISBN, page 103:",
          "text": "But there is useful energy in the exhaust pressure pulse, and what a turbocharger does is to put it to work driving a supercharger.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to put to use"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "put to use",
          "put to use"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) to put to use"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, David P. Levine, Welfare, Right and the State: A Framework for Thinking, →ISBN, page 28:",
          "text": "Insistence that those who become dependent on the state be put to work seeks to impose the demands of the reality principle on them or to punish them by forcing them to do the unskilled work inconsistent with creative living.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Jerry Bruce Thomas, An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression, →ISBN, page 28:",
          "text": "The able-bodied unemployed, who were without work because of the Depression, he believed should be put to work by the federal government at wages higher than the dole but lower than the prevailing wage so as not to encourage the rejection of opportunities for private employment \"until economic recovery would make work relief unnecessary.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Rodney Dale Whipple, Lorna Lynch, Say Goodbye To Skolobow, →ISBN, page 167:",
          "text": "That night, he told Ernst that Peter wanted to put him to work “to keep him out of trouble,” as he'd put it.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Give a job; Force to work (even if it is make-work)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "job",
          "job"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "make-work",
          "make-work"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-put to work.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-au-put_to_work.ogg/En-au-put_to_work.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-au-put_to_work.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "sense": "to put to use",
      "word": "işə salmaq"
    }
  ],
  "word": "put to work"
}

Download raw JSONL data for put to work meaning in English (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.