put a name to
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Verb
[edit]put a name to (third-person singular simple present puts a name to, present participle putting a name to, simple past and past participle put a name to)
- To attribute a person's name to (their face, voice, photo, etc.).
- 1920, Edith Wharton, chapter 9, in The Age of Innocence[1], New York: D. Appleton, page 77:
- “I can’t put a name to you—but I’m sure I’ve met you—I’ve met everybody, here, or in Paris or London. Aren’t you in diplomacy? […] ”
- To name or identify (something).
- 1853, Charles Dickens, chapter 33, in Bleak House[2], London: Chapman & Hall, page 367:
- “give your orders, you two gentlemen, and you’re welcome to whatever you put a name to.”
- 1986, Stephen King, chapter 7, in It, New York: Viking, page 295:
- It was a feeling so alien to his usual state of being that he was not able to put a name to it until that night, lying in bed and looking at the ceiling and replaying the day. Power.
- To identify the author of (a publication or other writing).
- 1658, Jeremiah Ives, Confidence Encountred[3], London, p. 11, footnote:
- I had otherwise interpreted this phrase, had he put a name to his book
- 1697, Thomas Burnet, Second Remarks upon An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding[4], page 30:
- how unusual soever it is to put a Name to such small Papers
- 1711, F. Manning, “Memorial to the Grisons” in The Present State of Europe, February 1711, Volume 12, p. 57,[5]
- Libels which have been publish’d, but which no Body durst put a Name to
Translations
[edit]to attribute a person's name to
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Further reading
[edit]- “put a name to”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “put a name to”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “put a name to” (US) / “put a name to” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.