A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

put someone’s pot on • put the pot on
put someone’s pot on —(Austral., NZ sl.) inform against a per-
son; destroy smb.’s prospects: I been there about the same
time as you, Tom, and I haven’t had a rise yet. Wonder if
Myers put my pot on.
put the pot on —(UK sl.) stake a sum of money on smth.
such as a sporting event, etc. despite the risk of loss: Alta-
mont put the pot on at the Derby, and won a good bit of
money.
put something across someone • put something
across to someone
put something across someone —(also: put something over on
someone) trick a person into accepting or believing smth.:
When I was young and foolish, he put it across me with a
hard-luck story.
– 277 –
put something across someone

---

put something across to someone —(also: put something over to
someone) explain or communicate smth. successfully: It was
an uphill struggle to put the message across to the media that
engineering had a major role to play.
put something back • put something behind
put something back —delay smth. till a later time or date:
The subsequent events put back the development program by
some three years.
put something behind —
1
. = put something back: The cold
weather has put the crops behind by a month. 2. try to forget
smth. bad; regard smth. as no longer important: The boys
have put behind those early season mishaps in hopes of some-
thing better.
put something down for something • put
 something down to something
put something down for something—
1
. appoint a date for
smth.: Singh pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting Kam-
ran. His trial was put down for a later date. 2. (of smb.’s name)
be entered into a list of participants, etc.: Lord Linley, seven-
year-old son of Princess Margaret, had had his name put down
for Eton.
put something down to something —consider smth. to be the
result or consequence of: This outbreak was put down to the
lack of vaccination and not the lack of vaccine efficiency.