"throw up the sponge" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From a custom of the boxing ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "throws up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "throwing up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "threw up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thrown up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> up the sponge"
      },
      "expansion": "throw up the sponge (third-person singular simple present throws up the sponge, present participle throwing up the sponge, simple past threw up the sponge, past participle thrown up the sponge)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, James Russell Lowell, “Lessing”, in Among My Books, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 330:",
          "text": "But he was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate, and had work to do yet.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; to throw in the towel."
      ],
      "id": "en-throw_up_the_sponge-en-verb-lMCyiu5K",
      "links": [
        [
          "give up",
          "give up"
        ],
        [
          "contest",
          "contest#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "acknowledge",
          "acknowledge"
        ],
        [
          "defeat",
          "defeat#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "throw in the towel",
          "throw in the towel"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic, slang, archaic) To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; to throw in the towel."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-throw up the sponge.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/84/En-au-throw_up_the_sponge.ogg/En-au-throw_up_the_sponge.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/En-au-throw_up_the_sponge.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw up the sponge"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From a custom of the boxing ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "throws up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "throwing up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "threw up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thrown up the sponge",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> up the sponge"
      },
      "expansion": "throw up the sponge (third-person singular simple present throws up the sponge, present participle throwing up the sponge, simple past threw up the sponge, past participle thrown up the sponge)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English light verb constructions",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, James Russell Lowell, “Lessing”, in Among My Books, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 330:",
          "text": "But he was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate, and had work to do yet.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; to throw in the towel."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "give up",
          "give up"
        ],
        [
          "contest",
          "contest#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "acknowledge",
          "acknowledge"
        ],
        [
          "defeat",
          "defeat#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "throw in the towel",
          "throw in the towel"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic, slang, archaic) To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; to throw in the towel."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-throw up the sponge.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/84/En-au-throw_up_the_sponge.ogg/En-au-throw_up_the_sponge.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/En-au-throw_up_the_sponge.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw up the sponge"
}