"cry uncle" meaning in All languages combined

See cry uncle on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: en-au-cry uncle.ogg Forms: cries uncle [present, singular, third-person], crying uncle [participle, present], cried uncle [participle, past], cried uncle [past]
Etymology: Unknown. Uncle may be an anglicization of Irish anacal (“protection”). Etymology templates: {{unknown|en}} Unknown, {{der|en|ga|anacal|t=protection}} Irish anacal (“protection”) Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} cry uncle (third-person singular simple present cries uncle, present participle crying uncle, simple past and past participle cried uncle)
  1. (US, colloquial) To beg for mercy; to give up, admit defeat, surrender; indicate submission, such as when wrestling. Tags: US, colloquial Synonyms: say uncle, cry craven Related terms: safeword, safe word

Inflected forms

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unknown"
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        "2": "ga",
        "3": "anacal",
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      "expansion": "Irish anacal (“protection”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown. Uncle may be an anglicization of Irish anacal (“protection”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cries uncle",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "crying uncle",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "cried uncle",
      "tags": [
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      "form": "cried uncle",
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 19th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "source": "w"
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        },
        {
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
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        }
      ],
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              101,
              112
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1976, Geoffrey Wolff, Black Sun, New York Review of Books, published 2003, page 158:",
          "text": "The Powels would serve strong punch and play loud music, and their parties ended when the last guest cried uncle, often a day and half after they began.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To beg for mercy; to give up, admit defeat, surrender; indicate submission, such as when wrestling."
      ],
      "id": "en-cry_uncle-en-verb-97i5wX5F",
      "links": [
        [
          "beg",
          "beg"
        ],
        [
          "mercy",
          "mercy"
        ],
        [
          "give up",
          "give up"
        ],
        [
          "admit",
          "admit"
        ],
        [
          "defeat",
          "defeat"
        ],
        [
          "surrender",
          "surrender"
        ],
        [
          "submission",
          "submission"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, colloquial) To beg for mercy; to give up, admit defeat, surrender; indicate submission, such as when wrestling."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "safeword"
        },
        {
          "word": "safe word"
        }
      ],
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        {
          "word": "say uncle"
        },
        {
          "word": "cry craven"
        }
      ],
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      "audio": "en-au-cry uncle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-cry_uncle.ogg/En-au-cry_uncle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-cry_uncle.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cry uncle"
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      "expansion": "Unknown",
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    },
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        "3": "anacal",
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      },
      "expansion": "Irish anacal (“protection”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown. Uncle may be an anglicization of Irish anacal (“protection”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cries uncle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "crying uncle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "cried uncle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "cried uncle",
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "expansion": "cry uncle (third-person singular simple present cries uncle, present participle crying uncle, simple past and past participle cried uncle)",
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "safeword"
    },
    {
      "word": "safe word"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 19th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
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        "English colloquialisms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms derived from Irish",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with unknown etymologies",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
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      ],
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          "ref": "1976, Geoffrey Wolff, Black Sun, New York Review of Books, published 2003, page 158:",
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          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To beg for mercy; to give up, admit defeat, surrender; indicate submission, such as when wrestling."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "beg",
          "beg"
        ],
        [
          "mercy",
          "mercy"
        ],
        [
          "give up",
          "give up"
        ],
        [
          "admit",
          "admit"
        ],
        [
          "defeat",
          "defeat"
        ],
        [
          "surrender",
          "surrender"
        ],
        [
          "submission",
          "submission"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, colloquial) To beg for mercy; to give up, admit defeat, surrender; indicate submission, such as when wrestling."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "say uncle"
        },
        {
          "word": "cry craven"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-cry uncle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-cry_uncle.ogg/En-au-cry_uncle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-cry_uncle.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cry uncle"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (6fdc867 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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