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put to bed

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put someone to bed

 and send someone to bed

to make someone go to bed. Mother put Jimmy to bed and kissed him. Sally was naughty and was sent to bed.

See also: bed, put

put something to bed

Fig. to complete work on something and send it on to the next step in production, especially in publishing. (From put someone to bed.) This week's edition is finished. Let's put it to bed. Finish the editing of this book and put it to bed.

See also: bed, put

put something to bed

1. to finish dealing with something This is an opportunity for us to put some of these problems to bed.

2. to get a newspaper, magazine, or book ready to be printed You put the paper to bed and you're proud of it, but the next morning you find the world has changed while it's been printed.

3. to clean a garden after the plants have died It takes about two weeks to put the garden to bed.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of put someone to bed (to help someone get ready to lie down in bed and sleep)

See also: bed, put

put something to bed

if you put something that is printed, for example a book or magazine, to bed, you finish writing it We put the first edition to bed an hour before the deadline.

See also: bed, put

put to bed

Complete something and either set it aside or send it on to the next step, as in We put the magazine to bed at ten, or They said they'd put the whole project to bed at least a month ago. This expression, transferring nighttime retirement to other kinds of completion, was first applied to a newspaper, where it meant "send to press," that is, start to print. [Mid-1900s]

See also: bed, put

put to bed

Informal

1. To make final preparations for the printing of (a newspaper, for example).

2. To make final preparations for completing (a project).

See also: bed, put