What it means
Telling someone to shut it and stop rabbiting on. Softer than a straight shut up but still a proper slap, usually aimed at mates, siblings, or that bloke in the pub who won’t drop a topic. Feels a bit old-school, but it still pops up when someone’s doing your head in with nonstop waffle and you want peace.
Usage examples
"And another thing about my cat’s gluten intolerance, yeah… Put a sock in it, Gaz, we’ve been outside Tesco in the rain for twenty minutes."
"Put a sock in it, some of us are trying to sleep."
"Will you two put a sock in it and let the film play?"
Where it comes from
Said to date from the early days of the gramophone, whose sound poured out of a big open horn with no volume control. To quieten it, people would literally stuff a sock into the horn. To put a sock in it is therefore a blunt, jokey way of telling someone to be quiet and stop their noise or chatter, as if plugging the source of the racket.
Other ways to say it
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