put a stunt

Hi everyone.

I'm familiar with the expression "pull a stunt (on someone)",
but I can not figure out the following:

"I could think of several people who'd pay top dollar to see me eat a bullet. I wound't put a stunt like this past them."

This guy is wondering if someone is setting a trap on him.

Probably it has nothing to do with pull a stunt. Any help?

Thanks for your time.

K

No, 'a stunt' is irrelevant. The idiom here is 'wouldn't put (something) past (someone)', which means thinking someone is capable of doing something (undesirable). It's always grammatically in the negative, and it also has negative connotations.

You're right, it has nothing to do with pulling a stunt. This is the expression "I wouldn't put <something> past <someone>" where the something in question is "a stunt like this". It means "I believe that they are capable of a stunt like this". It tends to be used to mean that someone is sufficiently clever/sneaky/stupid/evil - which one is almost always understood from the context.

You may be interested in other threads on the same subject:

I didn't put it past him
wouldn't put it past
Wouldn't Put it Past (someone) to Do