put something back phrasal verb ( see also ↑ put )
1 . put somebody/something ↔ back to put people or things in the place or situation they were in before:
She put the saucepan back on the stove.
Our win today put us back into third place in the league.
2 . put something ↔ back to arrange for an event to start at a later time or date SYN postpone
put something ↔ back to
The meeting has been put back to next Thursday.
3 . put something ↔ back to delay a process or activity by a number of weeks, months etc:
This fire could put back the opening date by several weeks.
4 . to make someone or something have something that they used to have before:
The win put a smile back on his face.
5 . put a clock/watch back British English to make a clock or watch show an earlier time SYN set back American English ⇨ put the clock back at ↑ clock 1 (3)