put to sleep

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cause (someone) to sleep.
   • His boring stories sometimes put me to sleep.
   • When even the silence and seclusion of this retreat failed to bring slumber, he sometimes called in a professional mesmerizer to put him into a hypnotic sleep, from which Sawyer knew how to arouse him at a fixed time. This habit, as well as the existence of the underground chamber, were secrets...1897, Edward Bellamy, Equality (Bellamy), Preface
2. (transitive) To help (someone) to bed.
   • After they'd put the kids to sleep, they relaxed by the fire and chatted.
   • Grandpa Brown rode off with Mr. and Mrs. Kendall; and Bunny and Sue were given a good dinner and put to sleep that afternoon, for they were tired, sleepy and hungry.1916, Stratemeyer Syndicate, Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm, Chapter XXV: Grandpa's Horses

   Synonyms:

   put to bed, put down

3. (figuratively, transitive, uncommon) To render dormant.
   • Our jealousy is only put to sleep by the unlimited confidence we all repose in the person to whom we all look as our president.1787, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington
   • This is in accord with facts, for I can by cold put to sleep special parts of the nervous mass without putting other parts to sleep.1872 August, Benjamin Ward Richardson, “The Physiology of Sleep”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 1

   Synonyms:

   put to rest, put to bed

4. (euphemistic, transitive) To kill an animal painlessly, often with an injection.
   • Near-synonym: put to bed with a shovel (cynical tone)
   • It was sad to put our beloved spaniel to sleep, but it was better than letting him suffer.

   Synonyms:

   put down, euthanize, put to bed with a shovel

5. (informal) To give a general anesthetic prior to surgery.
   • Mommy's surgery is not a big operation but it does require that they put her to sleep for a while.

   Synonyms:

   put under, anesthetize, anaesthetise