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Synonyms

put to bed

Idioms  

  1. 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]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And it should put to bed the idea that banks and private-capital managers are playing a zero-sum game with each other.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

My children were eventually put to bed, but my wife stayed up to watch with me for a few hours, her expression stoic.

From Salon • Mar. 7, 2026

For the spinner, the Liam Dawson debate looks to have been put to bed.

From BBC • Aug. 5, 2025

The accusations of cosiness within the set-up that followed the Ashes seem to have already been put to bed.

From BBC • May 14, 2025

It was also this knight who brought the distracted Elaine to his bedside, after he had been put to bed.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.