put to bed

put (someone or something) to bed

1. To help someone, typically a child, prepare for and get into bed at night. I'll give you a call after I put the kids to bed. Tom had a bit too much to drink, so I'm going to put him to bed.

2. To complete something or some initial preparatory phase. I thought you'd put the proofreading for that edition to bed weeks ago! We should be able to put this project to bed next week.

3. To stop discussing, thinking about, or focusing on something. OK, I think we have to agree to disagree. Let's just put the issue to bed and stop arguing. Why are you still being so jealous? I thought we'd put this all to bed ages ago.

See also: bed, put, to

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

put someone to bed

 and send someone to bed

to make someone go to bed. Mother put Jimmy to bed and kissed him. Sally was naughty and was sent to bed.

See also: bed, put, to

put something to bed

Fig. to complete work on something and send it on to the next step in production, especially in publishing. (From put someone to bed.) This week's edition is finished. Let's put it to bed. Finish the editing of this book and put it to bed.

See also: bed, put, to

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

put to bed

Complete something and either set it aside or send it on to the next step, as in We put the magazine to bed at ten, or They said they'd put the whole project to bed at least a month ago. This expression, transferring nighttime retirement to other kinds of completion, was first applied to a newspaper, where it meant "send to press," that is, start to print. [Mid-1900s]

See also: bed, put, to

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.

put to bed

Informal

1. To make final preparations for the printing of (a newspaper, for example).

2. To make final preparations for completing (a project).

See also: bed, put, to

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.