put paid to

English

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

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)

(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.
(chiefly UK) To put an end to. [from early 20th century]
- 1992, Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America, London, New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 204:
  When peace came in 1802 she regained a measure of control, but it was wrested from her when war with Britain broke out once more in 1805 and Nelson put paid to Spanish sea power in the Atlantic at the Battle of Trafalgar.
- 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.
(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.