An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Put Up', with examples and exercises.
Hello and welcome to my website all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in.
'Put up' is a common phrasal verb in English that is used in many different areas of life, ranging from things as diverse as construction to resistance. It has a broad variety of different uses, many of which are used for quite specific situations and I will do my best to cover all of these in this post. So, without further ado, let's get started....
PUT UP: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 10 |
Separable | Sometimes |
Past tense forms | Put up / Put up |
For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here.
THE BASICS
Before we look at the different phrasal verb meanings of 'put up', let's break down its component words to see if they can offer us any clues to the phrasal verb meanings that we will look at shortly.
Firstly we have 'to put', which is certainly one of the favourite verbs of English native speakers as it is in frequent use in everyday English. The general idea behind it it is to move or place something into a position, but it does also have other meanings, such as causing emotions or states to change and expressing something with words.
The prepositional particle 'up' is one that features in many phrasal verb constructions and is generally used to refer to movement to a higher place or position. Furthermore, it can also be used for increases in numbers, rates and percentages etc.
Now we have covered the basics, let's dive into the different phrasal verb meanings....
MEANING 1: Literal
Before we look at the idiomatic meanings of 'put up', I want to begin with the literal meaning, which you may well be aware of. When we combine 'put' and 'up' in the literal sense, we are talking about placing something in a position that we perceive to be in a higher position than us e.g. a high shelf or a storage space near the ceiling. Moreover, this is used when there is a movement upwards and into a space, such as the little boy in the picture who has put his finger up his nose.
Examples of usage....
I've had to put the ball of string up on the top shelf to stop the cats playing with it.
John discretely tried to put his finger up his nose but to no avail as all of his colleagues saw him.
MEANING 2: To construct something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
​Usage | Common |
British or American | Both |
Potential synonyms | To construct, to erect |
Commonly used with | Building, wall, tent |
If you are familiar with a certain well-known Joni Mitchell song, you will know the lyrics "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" and the usage of 'put up' here is our second meaning, which is 'to construct something, so that it is in an erect or an upright position'.
This is commonly used with nouns such as buildings and walls, for which there is a building process and at the end of it there is an upright standing structure. This application is for both permanent and temporary structures and thus can also be used with other nouns such as tents, barriers and police cordons. Additionally, we can use it for imaginary walls and barriers, such as emotional walls that people 'put up' to stop themselves being emotionally hurt.
Grammatically, this form of 'put up' takes a direct object and can therefore be separated, although we tend to place the object at the end a bit more, however placing the object between 'put' and 'up' is fine to do and not wrong.
Examples of usage....
They demolished the old church and put up an apartment block in its place.
We managed to put the tent up in less than 20 minutes!
Police have put up a cordon around the crime scene whilst the investigation takes place.
Lisa put up an emotional wall after her divorce to avoid getting hurt like that again.
MEANING 3: To place something on display
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
British or American | Both |
Potential synonyms | To hang up |
Commonly used with | Picture, poster, advert, mirror, notice, sign |
The third meaning of 'put up' is to place something somewhere so that is it on display for people to see. This is normally used with things that are hung on walls such as pictures, posters, notices or mirrors. However, it can also be used for signs, cameras and anything that can be placed in a suspended position above the ground.
The idea behind this meaning is to put something in a position where it is visible to people. Logically this would need to be somewhere high for optimised visibility, which is why the particle 'up' is required.
Notably, this application is also used for decorations, in particular party decorations and Christmas decorations and lights, as these are normally suspended. Strangely, we do also use this for a Christmas tree, even though it is placed on the ground and not suspended from anything.
On a grammatical note, this usage of 'put up' is separable and takes a direct object, which is the item that is suspended. One extra thing to note here is that the opposite of 'to put' in phrasal verb constructions is often the verb 'to take' and therefore the phrasal verb to express the opposite action of this meaning of 'put up' is 'take down' and not 'put down'.
Examples of usage....
The local council have put up a network of CCTV cameras around the city to improve public safety.
Our cat went missing a week ago. We've put posters up all over the neighbourhood and are hoping that someone finds him soon.
We put up our Christmas decorations on 12th December every year and take them down again on 6th January.
MEANING 4: To tolerate
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
British or American | Both |
Potential synonyms | To tolerate, to bear, to endure, to cope with |
This fourth meaning of 'put up' is a really common one that you may already be familiar with and means 'to tolerate'. For this usage we require the additional preposition 'with'.
If you 'put up with something', you accept and live with a situation that you do not like, you do not agree with or is not ideal. It is in regular use in English, especially in spoken English, and is more commonly used and informal than its synonym 'to tolerate'.
On a grammatical note, you cannot separate this usage of 'put up' and the indirect object always has to come after the word 'with'. If the direct object is a verb action, it needs to be in the gerund ('ing) form.
Examples of usage....
I don't think I can put up with this for much longer!
Lisa only puts up with Roger's snoring because she loves him.
Nobody should have to put up with being bullied at work.
MEANING 5: To provide money (as financial support)
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
British or American | Both |
Potential synonyms | To finance, to bankroll |
Commonly used with | Money, funds |
Our fifth meaning of 'put up' is to provide money in order to support someone or something financially.
If you propose to 'put up money' for something, you are essentially offering to provide the finance for something, such as a project, a business startup or an event in order to make it possible. As you can imagine, this application is used a lot in the world of finance and investment as companies and trust funds are often looking for investors to put up funds in order for them to grow and expand.
Aside from the finance sector however, this usage of 'put up' can also be used to describe any time a business or a person is provided with the money to undertake a project of venture. It is not really used for personal lending or borrowing for non-business purposes though, as the words 'lend' or 'loan' would normally be used more naturally here.
Examples of usage....
The company is doing so well that it is now looking for investors who are willing to put up the capital to enable it to expand into overseas markets.
We have asked the bank to put up the money and we are waiting for their decision.
Helen's rich grandfather put up the money for her to buy a new premises for her shop.
MEANING 6: To make something available for sale
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
British or American? | Both |
Potential synoyms | To put on the market |
Meaning number six of 'put up' is 'to place something onto the market in order to be sold'. Here, the additional words 'for sale' are normally used. You may already be familiar with the expression 'to put something on the market' and this form with 'put up' is a synonym of this.
The most common example of this that you are likely to hear is with houses as when someone decides to sell their house, they put it up for sale. It can equally be used to talk about placing anything on the market to be sold though.
Another variation of 'put up for sale' is 'to put something up for auction', i.e. when you decide to sell something via a public sale to the highest bidder. A further possibility here is 'to put something up for rent', when you decide to rent it out, normally on a long term basis, rather than sell something.
Examples of usage....
After a long period of deliberation, we have decided to put our house up for sale.
The apartment was put up for rent by the new owners not long after they had completed the purchase.
I've sorted out all of my old clothes and put the best ones up for sale.
MEANING 7: To propose someone for election
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
British or American? | Both |
Potential synonyms | To nominate, to put forward |
The seventh meaning of 'put up' is one that you often hear around the time of a political election as it means 'to propose a candidate for election'.
This is used when a political party has decided the person who will represent them in the election and they would say that they "are putting up this candidate for election", therefore formally naming the person that they have chosen.
Another similar usage to this, albeit in a very different area of life, is used when parents decide that, for whatever reason, they cannot look after their child and so opt to put it up for adoption. I guess we use 'put up' in this sense as by doing so, the child is being made available to the public so that the most suitable people can adopt and take care of it.
Examples of usage....
The Green Party have announced the candidate that they are putting up for election in this constituency.
My parents put me up for adoption when I was a baby, so I have no memory of them.
MEANING 8: To accommodate someone temporarily
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
British or American | Both |
Potential synonyms | To accommodate |
The eighth meaning of 'put up' is to accommodate another person in your house on a temporary basis.
This is normally used when a friend or a member of your family finds themselves in a situation where they have nowhere to live or stay and so they stay at your house temporarily. In other words, if you put someone up, you provide them with a place to sleep for a short period of time.
Grammatically, this application of 'put up' is only used in a separable way with the person who is temporarily staying at the other person's house always going between 'put' and 'up'. Moreover, this usage of 'put up' is used equally commonly in both an active and a passive way, depending on if the person speaking is the person staying at the other's house (passive) or is the person who is letting their friend sleep at theirs (active).
Examples of usage....
I am having a new kitchen fitted at my house, so my brother is putting me up for a couple of nights whilst the work is carried out.
My brother is having a new kitchen fitted, so we are temporarily putting him up until it is completed.
Can you put me up for a few days until I make up with my wife?
MEANING 9: To resist something
CEFR Language Level | ​B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
British or American? | Both |
Potential synonyms | To resist |
Commonly used with | Fight, resistance |
For the ninth meaning of 'put up', we are thinking about the idea of resistance as here we often combine 'put up' with nouns such 'fight' or 'resistance' to give the idea that something is opposed, fought or resisted in some way.
With this usage, we do not tend to separate the words 'put' and 'up' and place the appropriate noun after the phrasal verb.
Examples of usage....
There is no way that the local residents are going to accept this without putting up a fight.
The army put up little resistance when the neighbouring countries' troops invaded.
MEANING 10: To increase a price
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
British or American? | British |
Potential synonyms | To increase |
Commonly used with | Prices, costs |
Our final meaning of 'put up' is more of a British usage that unfortunately has been used a lot over the last few years and that is 'to increase a price'.
For this usage, we are talking specifically about when a decision is made by a company or a business to increase prices, rather than prices increasing in general. In fact, normally companies are forced to put up their prices due to a rise in general prices such as wholesale and overhead costs.
This usage is separable and is fine to use in both a separable and inseparable way, without affecting the meaning.
Examples of usage....
Due to an increase in our overheads, we have had to put up our prices to ensure that we still make a profit.
We are putting up our prices on 1st January, so please check out our website in the coming weeks as the new prices will be published on there.
Before we finish this post, I want to make you aware of some other expressions and specific uses that the phrasal verb 'put up' is featured in.
Put up or shut up - This is an idiomatic expression that we use when we want to tell someone to either justify what they said, or else keep quiet.
To put your hand up - This is something that is used very commonly in classrooms and, to a lesser extent, business meetings and other group activities and is simply when someone puts their hand in an elevated position above their head to signify that they know the answer to a question or want to speak.
To put your hands up - The plural form is very different to the singular and is used to express when a person puts both hands in an elevated position in front of their face to show that they are surrendering. This is normally to the police when they are being arrested for a crime. Moreover, 'put your hands up' is also used in many modern pop songs in a different way as a call to start dancing or show appreciation.
To put your feet up - This final expression means 'to sit down and relax' and is normally used after a period of hard work.
EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to put up'....
Have you ever constructed a tent?
The company has placed adverts around the city as part of their new marketing campaign.
Roger will not tolerate his children being cheeky for long.
The house is going to be placed on the market in the next week.
My friend is staying at my house until his apartment is ready to live in.
We increased our prices on 1st April this year.
The answers will be available on next week's post.
EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'WORK OUT' (other variations may be possible)
I normally WORK OUT at the gym at least four times a week.
Scientists have been trying to WORK OUT what dark matter is for many years.
Can you WORK this sum OUT without using a calculator?
The electoral committee are currently trying to WORK OUT a procedure for future elections.
Despite their best efforts, things in their relationship didn't WORK OUT.
Lisa tendered her resignation at her company and agreed to WORK OUT her notice period.
That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey.
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