put paid to

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

put paid to (third-person singular simple present puts paid to, present participle putting paid to, simple past and past participle put paid to)

1. (chiefly UK, dated) To mark a bill or a debt record as "paid".
   • 1893 December, Mrs. Alexander, “Found Wanting”, in Belgravia‎^[1], volume 82, page 353:

     Well, then, I'll put paid to that little account.

2. (chiefly UK) To put an end to. [from early 20th century]
   • 2010, David Brown, Palmerston: A Biography:

     If Harry had always seemed a sickly child, Harrow put paid to notions that he was really a physical weakling.

   • 2013, Allan Beever, The Law of Private Nuisance, page 60:

     This puts paid to the argument that a claimant who comes to a nuisance has impliedly consented to the continuance of that nuisance.

   • 2022 June 17, Fiona Harvey, “Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     The Guardian recently uncovered nearly 200 new projects – “carbon bombs” – that if completed would put paid to the world’s chances of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

3. (chiefly UK, idiomatic) To terminate; to cancel (plans or expectations); to preclude (possibilities); to stop (something) once and for all.

   The rain put paid to our plans for a picnic.

Synonyms

• put a stop to, put an end to, finish off

References

• “put paid to”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.