What it means
A cheeky, slightly old-school way to tell someone to stop talking. It means shut up, but with more comic sting than a flat shut up. You chuck it at mates, siblings, or anyone who's been yapping on so long your brain's started packing its bags.
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?"
"Oi, put a sock in it, will you? I can't hear myself think over your conspiracy chat."
"If Dave starts banging on about crypto again, someone tell him to put a sock in it."
Where it comes from
This one’s usually traced back to the early gramophone era. If the horn was too loud, people could literally muffle it by stuffing a sock into it. That neat little image of blocking the noise drifted over to people, so put a sock in it became a jokey way to say be quiet.
