put and take
Preserved but no longer current.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “put and take” mean?
A game of chance played with a modification of the old "tee-to-tum," one side of which is marked Put — signifying that the player pays— and another with Take. It was immensely popular for a few months about Christmastime, 1921.
Is “put and take” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.