Put out feelers
Discreetly try to learn something, as in They put out feelers to see if anyone was interested in buying the company. This idiom alludes to an animal’s feelers, such as antennae or tentacles, used to find food. [ First half of 1800s ]
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- Put out of business
see: out of business
- Put out of the way
verb phrase To remove an obstacle, eliminate a barrier: put that project out of the way to concentrate on this
- Put out to grass
Also, put out to pasture. Cause to retire, as in With mandatory retirement they put you out to grass at age 65, or She’s not all that busy now that she’s been put out to pasture. These idioms refer to farm animals sent to graze when they are no longer useful for other work.
- Put paid to
verb phrase To finish; also, to put to rest or finish off (1919+; British) Finish off, end, as in We’d best put paid to this issue. [ Early 1900s ]
- Put-put
[puht-puht, -puht] /ˈpʌtˈpʌt, -ˌpʌt/ noun 1. the sound made by a small internal-combustion engine or imitative of its operation. 2. Informal. a small internal-combustion engine, or something, as a boat or model airplane, equipped with one: the sound of distant put-puts on the lake. verb (used without object), put-putted, put-putting. 3. Informal. to operate with […]