put down the phone

idiom

British
: to end a telephone connection
She said goodbye and put down the phone.

Examples of put down the phone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Her teeth chattered and trembled until her spasming fingers put down the phone. Han Kang, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023 Shapiro put down the phone and glowered at it. Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2023 But put down the phone, because delivery is not on the menu here. Caitlyn Fitzpatrick, Popular Mechanics, 9 June 2022 Lembke believes much of that increase in time is by design — a result of tech companies' deliberate strategies as opposed to a lack of willpower to put down the phone. Alex Pena, CBS News, 5 May 2022 What is a good polite — or even impolite — way to tell her to put down the phone and pay attention to the world around her? Washington Post, 28 June 2021 Bernard reacted calmly as the marshall put down the phone and said the execution could proceed. The Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Dec. 2020 Some of the activities are merely prompts for the child and parent to put down the phone and perform an activity in the real world like going out to describe clouds or talk about their favorite animals. Stan Horaczek, Popular Science, 22 Sep. 2020 Being a parent in this time has taught me to put down the phone. National Geographic, 19 June 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'put down the phone.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near put down the phone

Cite this Entry

“Put down the phone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/put%20down%20the%20phone. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!