put to work
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To start using something or someone for a practical purpose
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Bắt đầu sử dụng một thứ gì đó hoặc một người cho mục đích thực tế
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to place in employment
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new machine was put to work immediately
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “put to work” mean?
To start using something or someone for a practical purpose Literally: to place in employment
Is “put to work” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.