give up - definition of give up by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

give (g

v. gave (g

v), giv·en (g

n), giv·ing, gives

v.tr.

1. To make a present of: We gave her flowers for her birthday.

2. To place in the hands of; pass: Give me the scissors.

a. To deliver in exchange or recompense; pay: gave five dollars for the book.

b. To let go for a price; sell: gave the used car away for two thousand dollars.

a. To administer: give him some cough medicine.

b. To convey by a physical action: gave me a punch in the nose.

c. To inflict as punishment: gave the child a spanking; was given life imprisonment for the crime.

d. Law To accord by verdict: A decision was given for the plaintiff.

a. To bestow, especially officially; confer: The Bill of Rights gives us freedom of speech.

b. To accord or tender to another: Give him your confidence.

c. To put temporarily at the disposal of: gave them the cottage for a week.

d. To entrust to another, usually for a specified reason: gave me the keys for safekeeping.

e. To convey or offer for conveyance: Give him my best wishes.

f. Law To execute and deliver. Used especially in the phrase give bond.

a. To endure the loss of; sacrifice: gave her son to the war; gave her life for her country.

b. To devote or apply completely: gives herself to her work.

c. To furnish or contribute: gave their time to help others.

d. To offer in good faith; pledge: Give me your word.

a. To allot as a portion or share.

b. To bestow (a name, for example).

c. To attribute (blame, for example) to someone; assign.

d. To award as due: gave us first prize.

8. To emit or utter: gave a groan; gave a muted response.

9. To submit for consideration, acceptance, or use: give an opinion; give an excuse.

10.

a. To proffer to another: gave the toddler my hand.

b. To consent to engage (oneself) in sexual intercourse with a man.

11.

a. To perform for an audience: give a recital.

b. To present to view: gave the sign to begin.

12.

a. To offer as entertainment: give a dinner party.

b. To propose as a toast.

13.

a. To be a source of; afford: His remark gave offense. Music gives her pleasure.

b. To cause to catch or be subject to (a disease or bodily condition): The draft gave me a cold.

c. To guide or direct, as by persuasion or behavior. Used with an infinitive phrase: You gave me to imagine you approved of my report.

14.

a. To yield or produce: Cows give milk.

b. To bring forth or bear: trees that give fruit.

c. To produce as a result of calculation: 5 × 12 gives 60.

15.

a. To manifest or show: gives promise of brilliance; gave evidence of tampering.

b. To carry out (a physical movement): give a wink; give a start.

16. To permit one to have or take: gave us an hour to finish.

17. To take an interest to the extent of: "My dear, I don't give a damn" Margaret Mitchell.

v.intr.

1. To make gifts or donations: gives generously to charity.

a. To yield to physical force.

b. To collapse from force or pressure: The roof gave under the weight of the snow.

c. To yield to change: Both sides will have to give on some issues.

3. To afford access to or a view; open: The doors give onto a terrace.

4. Slang To be in progress; happen: What gives?

1. Capacity or inclination to yield under pressure.

2. The quality or condition of resilience; springiness: "Fruits that have some give ... will have more juice than hard ones" Elizabeth Schneider.

Phrasal Verbs:

give away

1. To make a gift of.

2. To present (a bride) to the bridegroom at a wedding ceremony.

a. To reveal or make known, often accidentally.

b. To betray.

give back

To return: gave me back my book.

give in

1. To hand in; submit: She gave in her report.

2. To cease opposition; yield.

give of

To devote or contribute: She really gave of her time to help. They give of themselves to improve the quality of education.

give off

To send forth; emit: chemical changes that give off energy.

give out

1. To allow to be known; declare publicly: gave out the bad news.

2. To send forth; emit: gave out a steady buzzing.

3. To distribute: gave out the surplus food.

4. To stop functioning; fail.

5. To become used up or exhausted; run out: Their determination finally gave out.

give over

1. To hand over; entrust.

a. To devote to a particular purpose or use: gave the day over to merrymaking.

b. To surrender (oneself) completely; abandon: finally gave myself over to grief.

3. To cause an activity to stop: ordered the combatants to give over.

give up

a. To surrender: The suspects gave themselves up.

b. To devote (oneself) completely: gave herself up to her work.

a. To cease to do or perform: gave up their search.

b. To desist from; stop: gave up smoking.

3. To part with; relinquish: gave up the apartment; gave up all hope.

a. To lose hope for: We had given the dog up as lost.

b. To lose hope of seeing: We'd given you up an hour ago.

5. To admit defeat.

6. To abandon what one is doing or planning to do: gave up on writing the novel.

Idioms:

give a good account of (oneself)

To behave or perform creditably.

give birth to

1. To bear as offspring.

2. To be the origin of: a hobby that gave birth to a successful business.

give ground

To yield to a more powerful force; retreat.

give it to Informal

To punish or reprimand severely: My parents really gave it to me for coming in late.

give or take

Plus or minus a small specified amount: The chalet is close to the road, give or take a few hundred yards.

give rise to

To be the cause or origin of; bring about.

give (someone) a hard time

1. To make life difficult for; harass.

2. To make fun of; tease.

give (someone) the eye

To look at admiringly or invitingly.

give the lie to

1. To show to be inaccurate or untrue.

2. To accuse of lying.

give up the ghost

To cease living or functioning; die.

give way

a. To retreat or withdraw.

b. To yield the right of way: gave way to an oncoming car.

c. To relinquish ascendancy or position: as day gives way slowly to night.

a. To collapse from or as if from physical pressure: The ladder gave way.

b. To yield to urging or demand; give in.

3. To abandon oneself: give way to hysteria.

[Middle English given, from Old English giefan and Old Norse gefa; see ghabh- in Indo-European roots.]

give up

Verb

1. to stop (doing something): I did give up smoking

2. to resign from (a job or position)

3. to admit defeat or failure

4. to abandon (hope)

5. give oneself up

a. to surrender to the police or other authorities

b. to devote oneself completely: she gave herself up to her work

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Verb	1.	give up - lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime; "you've forfeited your right to name your successor"; "forfeited property" forfeit, throw overboard, waive, forgo, forego abandon - forsake, leave behind; "We abandoned the old car in the empty parking lot" lapse - let slip; "He lapsed his membership"
	2.	give up - give up with the intent of never claiming again; "Abandon your life to God"; "She gave up her children to her ex-husband when she moved to Tahiti"; "We gave the drowning victim up for dead" abandon foreswear, relinquish, renounce, quit - turn away from; give up; "I am foreswearing women forever"
	3.	give up - give up in the face of defeat of lacking hope; admit defeat; "In the second round, the challenger gave up" chuck up the sponge, drop by the wayside, drop out, fall by the wayside, throw in the towel, throw in, quit
	4.	give up - put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your little brother" cease, discontinue, lay off, quit, stop knock off, drop - stop pursuing or acting; "drop a lawsuit"; "knock it off!" leave off - stop using; "leave off your jacket--no need to wear it here" sign off - cease broadcasting; get off the air; as of radio stations retire, withdraw - withdraw from active participation; "He retired from chess" pull the plug - prevent from happening or continuing; "The government pulled the plug on spending" close off, shut off - stem the flow of; "shut off the gas when you leave for a vacation" cheese - used in the imperative (get away, or stop it); "Cheese it!" call it a day, call it quits - stop doing what one is doing; "At midnight, the student decided to call it quits and closed his books" break - give up; "break cigarette smoking"
	5.	give up - give up what is not strictly needed; "he asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey" dispense with, part with, spare give - transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody; "I gave her my money"; "can you give me lessons?"; "She gave the children lots of love and tender loving care"
	6.	give up - part with a possession or right; "I am relinquishing my bedroom to the long-term house guest"; "resign a claim to the throne" relinquish, resign, release, free hand, pass on, turn over, pass, reach, give - place into the hands or custody of; "hand me the spoon, please"; "Turn the files over to me, please"; "He turned over the prisoner to his lawyers" derequisition - release from government control sacrifice, give - endure the loss of; "He gave his life for his children"; "I gave two sons to the war"
	7.	give up - leave (a job, post, or position) voluntarily; "She vacated the position when she got pregnant"; "The chairman resigned when he was found to have misappropriated funds" resign, vacate, renounce abdicate, renounce - give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations; "The King abdicated when he married a divorcee" leave office, step down, quit, resign - give up or retire from a position; "The Secretary of the Navy will leave office next month"; "The chairman resigned over the financial scandal"
	8.	give up - relinquish possession or control over; "The squatters had to surrender the building after the police moved in" cede, surrender, deliver gift, present, give - give as a present; make a gift of; "What will you give her for her birthday?" yield up - surrender, as a result of pressure or force sell - give up for a price or reward; "She sold her principles for a successful career" sign away, sign over - formally assign ownership of; "She signed away her rights"
	9.	give up - give up or agree to forgo to the power or possession of another; "The last Taleban fighters finally surrendered" surrender abnegate - surrender (power or a position); "The King abnegated his power to the ministers" yield - cease opposition; stop fighting concede - acknowledge defeat; "The candidate conceded after enough votes had come in to show that he would lose" capitulate - surrender under agreed conditions
	10.	give up - stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims; "He abandoned the thought of asking for her hand in marriage"; "Both sides have to give up some claims in these negotiations" abandon ease up, give way, move over, yield, give - move in order to make room for someone for something; "The park gave way to a supermarket"; "`Move over,' he told the crowd" cave in, collapse, fall in, give way, founder, give, break - break down, literally or metaphorically; "The wall collapsed"; "The business collapsed"; "The dam broke"; "The roof collapsed"; "The wall gave in"; "The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice"
	11.	give up - allow the other (baseball) team to score; "give up a run" allow
	12.	give up - stop consuming; "kick a habit"; "give up alcohol" kick foreswear, forgo, waive, relinquish, dispense with, forego - do without or cease to hold or adhere to; "We are dispensing with formalities"; "relinquish the old ideas"