put someone through his or her paces

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Idioms and Phrases

Test thoroughly to see what someone can do, as in We put the new programmer though her paces, and she passed with flying colors . The idiom can refer to things as well, as in When we put the electrical system through its paces, we blew a fuse . The expression alludes to testing a horse's ability in the various paces (trot, canter, and gallop). Its use referring to horses dates from the late 1700s; its figurative use was first recorded in 1871.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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