put-put
or putt-putt
the sound made by a small internal-combustion engine or imitative of its operation.
Informal. a small internal-combustion engine, or something, as a boat or model airplane, equipped with one: the sound of distant put-puts on the lake.
Informal. to operate with sounds suggesting a put-put, as a small motor or motor-driven device.
Origin of put-put
1Words Nearby put-put
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use put-put in a sentence
Madge was closing the doors for the night when she heard the faint put-put of a motor boat, far out on the lake.
The Missing Formula | Mildred A. Wirt, AKA Ann WirtBefore Grandpa Davis had time to reply, there came the "put-put-put" which signals possible danger.
When Tom was within a few miles of his own boathouse he heard behind him the "put-put" of a motor craft.
Tom Swift and his Motor-boat | Victor AppletonThen he became aware of a faint and intermittent throb—put-put (pause) put (pause), put-put-put!
The Rules of the Game | Stewart Edward WhitePretty soon I heard the put-put of that scooter and along came the ice-cream man.
The Blue Ghost Mystery | Harold Leland Goodwin
British Dictionary definitions for put-put
/ (ˈpʌtˌpʌt) informal /
a light chugging or popping sound, as made by a petrol engine
a vehicle powered by an engine making such a sound
(intr) to make or travel along with such a sound
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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