Word.ws English Dictionary

put pedal to the metal

put pedal to the metal is the alternative form of put the pedal to the metal.

Meaning of put the pedal to the metal

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To press the gas pedal to the maximum extent.
    • I released the brakes, smashed the clutch and switched the transmission case into low gear, then put the pedal to the metal again throwing the car into what is known as a “moonshine spin”.2013, Loyd E. Hill, Marvin R. Query, Reap the Wild Seeds, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 74
    Synonyms:
    floor it, redline
  2. (broadly) To exert maximum effort.
    • There are times for all of us when we have to put the pedal to the metal. Businesspeople and students have deadlines. Parents have periods of time when they don't get breaks because their partners are unavailable or they have no partners.2007, Donna Carter, 10 Smart Things Women Can Do to Build a Better Life, Harvest House Publishers, →ISBN, page 22
    Synonyms:
    go all out

Forms of put pedal to the metal

third-person singular presentputs pedal to the metal
present participleputting pedal to the metal
past participleput pedal to the metal
pastput pedal to the metal

Questions about put pedal to the metal

What is put pedal to the metal the alternative form of?
Put pedal to the metal is the alternative form of put the pedal to the metal.

Words near put pedal to the metal in the dictionary

  1. put out to sea
  2. put outs
  3. put over
  4. put paid to
  5. put past
  6. put pedal to the metal
  7. put pen to paper
  8. put right
  9. put round
  10. put salt on someone's tail
  11. put some timber on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: put pedal to the metal (page history and authors); put the pedal to the metal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “put pedal to the metal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/put_pedal_to_the_metal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.