Puts

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /pʊts/

Definitions

1. To move or place an object in a specific position ; to execute an agreement to sell a stock option contract
2. To carefully deposit or arrange something somewhere ; to enter into a financial contract to sell the right to buy or sell assets
3. To lay something down in a chosen spot ; to carry out a transaction involving the sale of stock options

Etymology: "Puts" is the third-person singular present of "put", so the history belongs to "put" itself. That verb reached English as "pitten", "pytten" and "puten" in Middle English, and its ancestry runs back to a Germanic root meaning "to push" or "to thrust". Old English had "potian", "to push, thrust, strike, butt, goad", and a related "pȳtan", "to push, poke, thrust, put out", which is the closest match to the sense of pushing something into a place. The verb's sense of setting or placing comes from that original act of thrusting something somewhere. Relatives in neighbouring languages still keep the older picture alive: Dutch "poten" means "to set, plant", Swedish "putta" means "to strike, knock, push gently", and Icelandic "pota" means "to poke". In each case the word starts with a shove and ends with an object resting in a new spot.

Synonyms: places, sets, positions, locates, stows

Antonyms: removes, takes, withdraws