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throw in the sponge

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throw in the sponge/towel

  (informal)

to stop trying to do something because you know that you cannot succeed

Usage notes: If a boxer (= man who fights as a sport) throws a towel into the ring, he is showing that the other boxer has won.

Three of the original five candidates have now thrown in the towel.

See also: sponge, throw

throw in the sponge

Also, throw in the towel. Give up, acknowledge defeat, as in I can't move this rock; I'm throwing in the sponge, or Bill decided to throw in the towel and resign from his job. This idiom comes from boxing, where formerly a fighter (or his second) conceded defeat by throwing the sponge or towel used to wipe his face into the ring. [c. 1900]

See also: sponge, throw

throw in the sponge

verb

See throw in the towel

See also: sponge, throw