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give up

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give someone or something up (for lost)

to abandon someone or something as being lost; to quit looking for someone or something that is lost. After a week we had given the cat up for lost when suddenly she appeared. We gave up the cat for lost.

See also: give, up

give someone or something up (to someone)

to hand someone or something over to someone; to relinquish claims on someone or something in favor of someone else. We had to give the money we found up to the police. We gave up the money to the police.

See also: give, up

give something up

 

1. to forsake something; to stop using or eating something. I gave coffee up because of the caffeine. They advised me to give up sugar in all forms.

2. to quit doing something. Oh, give it up! You're not getting anywhere. You should give up smoking.

See also: give, up

give up

to quit; to quit trying. I give up! I won't press this further. Are you going to give up or keep fighting?

See also: give, up

give up (on someone or something)

to give up trying to do something with someone or something, such as being friendly, giving advice, managing, etc. I gave up on jogging. My knees went bad. Gloria tried to be friendly with Kelly, but finally gave up.

See also: give, up

give up

1. to admit defeat or failure Humans always mess things up, but we can't give up - we have to keep trying. Related vocabulary: hang it up

2. to stop trying to guess the correct answer a€?Guess what I'm doing.a€? a€?Reading?a€? a€?Nope.a€? a€?I give up.a€?

See also: give, up

give up something

also give something up

to stop doing or having something She says she would give up eating before she gave up her cigarettes. You never give up looking for survivors of a disaster. He wasn't good at tennis, but he didn't want to give it up.

See also: give, up

give up

1. Surrender, as in The suspect gave himself up. [1100s]

2. Stop doing or performing something, as in They gave up the search, or She gave up smoking almost thirty years ago. [c. 1600]

3. Part with, relinquish, as in They gave up their New York apartment, or We gave up all hope of finding the lost tickets. [Mid-1500s]

4. Lose hope for, as in We had given you up as lost. [Late 1500s]

5. Admit defeat, as in I give up-what's the right answer? [c. 1600]

6. give up on. Abandon, lose one's faith in, as in I gave up on writing a novel, or She gave up on religion years ago. [Colloquial; second half of 1900s] Also see give oneself up to.

See also: give, up

give up

v.

1. To surrender: The suspects gave up. The fugitives gave themselves up.

2. To admit defeat: Okay, let me go; I give up.

3. To cease to do or perform something, especially before completion or success: We gave up our search for the missing earrings. I tried to learn chess, but I was so bad that I gave it up.

4. To desist from doing something; stop doing something: My friend gave up smoking. I've been trying to give this habit up for years.

5. To abandon what one is planning to do: The author gave up writing the novel. Don't give up on this project!

6. To part with something; relinquish something: We gave the apartment up when the landlord raised the rent. They gave up all hope of ever finding their dog again.

7. To completely devote oneself to something. Used reflexively: The librarian gave himself up to his work.

8. give up on To lose faith or confidence in someone or something: After the sixth inning, our team gave up on winning the game. I gave up on my brother when he failed to return my letters.

9. give up on To lose hope that someone or something will appear: We'd given up on you an hour ago.

10. give up for To believe someone will not appear because he or she is in some debilitated state: You were so late to the party, we had given you up for lost. The lonely soldiers gave up their colonel for dead.

See also: give, up