Friday, August 3, 2012

meaning - Please help me understand why "put up with" means "stand, endure"



I'm a student learning English. Whenever I get stuck on phrasal verbs, I imagine the idiomatic meaning with the literal meaning and figure it out.





put up with
Tolerate; endure.
‘I'm too tired to put up with any nonsense’
(Oxford Dictionaries)




However, based on its literal meaning, I'm finding it difficult to understand how ‘put up with’ means "endure", "tolerate" or "support" as its synonyms suggest.



It'll be really helpful for me, if someone could explain.


Answer



People "put up" poles to support something … curtain poles for instance.





…it can be a really easy job putting up a curtain pole…




So, you put up curtains with [the use/aid/assistance of] a pole. In other words, putting up a pole means to support (tolerate) the weight of something.


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