give up

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English

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Verb

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giveup(third-person singular simple presentgives up,present participlegiving up,simple pastgave up,past participlegiven up)

  1. (transitive)Tosurrender(someone or something);toinformon (someone).
    Synonyms:surrender,yield
    He was surrounded, sogavehimselfup.
    Theygavehimupto the police.
  2. (transitive)Tostoporquit(an activity, etc.)
    Synonyms:blin,cease,discontinue
    Theygave upthe search when it got dark.
  3. (transitive)Torelinquish(something)
    Synonyms:forlend,surrender,yield
    Coordinate term:give away
    Hegave uphis seat to an old man.
    • 1816,Jane Austen,chapter 7, inEmma,volume 1:
      "Dear Miss Woodhouse, I would notgive upthe pleasure and honour of being intimate with you for any thing in the world. "
  4. (transitive)Tolosehopeconcerning(someone or something)
    Theygave him upfor dead.
  5. (transitive)Toabandon(someone or something)
    Synonyms:desert,forlet,forsake
    Igave upmy faith years ago.
    • 1941October, “Notes and News: Great Western Parcels Railcar”, inRailway Magazine,page474:
      The semi-streamlined contour of the earlier G.W.R. railcars has beengiven upin favour of a more utilitarian blunt-nose end, and effective floor space gained thereby.
    • 1987,Stock Aitken Waterman(lyrics and music), “Never Gonna Give You Up”,inWhenever You Need Somebody,performed byRick Astley:
      Never gonnagive you up/ Never gonna let you down / Never gonna run around and desert you
    • 2001,Salman Rushdie,Fury: A Novel,London:Jonathan Cape,→ISBN,page 7:
      The optimistic peace-and-love philosophy of his youth havinggivenhimup,he no longer knew how to reconcile himself to an increasingly phoney (he loathed, in this context, the otherwise excellent word “virtual” ) reality.
    • 2021November 3, Adrian Shooter talks to Paul Clifton, “A lifetime of railway achievements”, inRAIL,number943,page34:
      "I tried retirement ten years ago. Didn't think much of it. Complete waste of time. So Igave it upafter two weeks. "
  6. (intransitive)Toadmitdefeat,capitulate.
    Synonyms:capitulate,give in,surrender,wave the white flag
    Coordinate terms:give out,give way
    OK, Igive up,you win.
  7. (transitive,baseball)Of apitcher:to allow ahitterto make (a certain play).
    A good pitcher willgive upvery few home runs.
    • 2019November 14,Tyler Kepner,“After Reports of Astros’ Cheating, M.L.B. Is Left to Restore Trust”, inThe New York Times‎[1],New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC,archived fromthe originalon2023-01-15:
      Fiers, who now pitches for the Oakland Athletics, has gone 27-12 with a no-hitter in two years since leaving the Astros. But the last time he faced them, on Sept. 9, hegave upnine runs, including five homers, and got just three outs.
  8. (transitive,finance)Toexecuteatradeon behalf ofanotherbroker.
  9. (intransitive,USdialectal)Toacknowledge,recognizeas.
    • 1969,God Struck Me Dead; Religious Conversion Experiences and Autobiographies of Ex-Slaves,Philadelphia, P.A., Boston, M.A.:Pilgrim Press,page45:
      The next morning, Sunday, I was boxing with R., who had come over with three or four others to swap a few with me. I wasgiven upto be the best boxer around, and I laid them cold as fast as they came at me.
  10. (intransitive,US,slang)To reveal (something).
    Hegave upthat he was the one who opened the door.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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giveup(comparativemoregive up,superlativemostgive up)

  1. (USdialectal)Become fully taken over by a certain quality, activity, trait, etc.
    • c.1808,Mary Woody,A true account of Nayomy Wise‎[2]:
      And now She Seems give up to Sin / Too much neglecting grace within

References

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Anagrams

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