See throw in the towel in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for throw in the towel meaning in English (8.4kB)
{
"etymology_text": "From the traditional signal from a boxer's support staff of throwing such an item into a boxing ring to indicate that the contestant cannot continue the match and is forfeiting to the opponent.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws in the towel",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing in the towel",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw in the towel",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown in the towel",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> in the towel"
},
"expansion": "throw in the towel (third-person singular simple present throws in the towel, present participle throwing in the towel, simple past threw in the towel, past participle thrown in the towel)",
"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 entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English light verb constructions",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English predicates",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Russian terms with redundant script codes",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant script codes",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "If their restaurant can't get business even on Mother's Day, it might be time for them to throw in the towel.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII",
"text": "In short, there was so much space and so many things to shove things behind that most people, called on to find a silver cow-creamer there, would have said “Oh, what's the use?” and thrown in the towel.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To quit; to give up."
],
"id": "en-throw_in_the_towel-en-verb-RLBBkNy0",
"links": [
[
"quit",
"quit"
],
[
"give up",
"give up"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To quit; to give up."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "throw to the dogs"
},
{
"word": "throw to the wolves"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "throw in the cards"
},
{
"word": "throw in the sponge"
},
{
"word": "throw up one's hands"
},
{
"word": "throw up the sponge"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "llançar la tovallola"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "tirar la tovallola"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "hodit flintu do žita"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kaste håndklædet i ringen"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "smide håndklædet i ringen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "de handdoek in de ring werpen"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "alla andma"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "heittää pyyhe kehään"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jeter l’éponge"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jeter la serviette"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jeter le manche après la cognée"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "das Handtuch werfen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "die Flinte ins Korn werfen"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "bedobja a törülközőt"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "leggja árar í bát"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "springa á limminu"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "henda inn handklæðinu"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "melempar handuk"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "do hata a chaitheamh leis"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "an tuáille a chaitheamh isteach"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "do lámh a chaitheamh i bpaca"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "gettare la spugna"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "gettare le armi"
},
{
"alt": "さじをなげる",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "saji o nageru",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "匙を投げる"
},
{
"alt": "おてあげ",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "oteage",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "お手上げ"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kaste inn håndkledet"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "rozkładać ręce"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "rozłożyć ręce"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jogar a toalha"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "podnjátʹ bélyj flag",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "подня́ть бе́лый флаг"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "opustítʹ rúki",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "опусти́ть ру́ки"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sdátʹsja",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "сда́ться"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "priznátʹ svojó poražénije",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "призна́ть своё пораже́ние"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "priznátʹ sebjá pobeždénnym",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "призна́ть себя́ побежде́нным"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "složítʹ orúžije",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "сложи́ть ору́жие"
},
{
"code": "gd",
"lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "leig an saoghal leis an t-sruth"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "baciti pušku u šaš"
},
{
"code": "sk",
"lang": "Slovak",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "hadzať flintu do žita"
},
{
"code": "sl",
"lang": "Slovene",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "vreči puško v koruzo"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "tirar la toalla"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "botar la toalla"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kasta in handduken"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kasta yxan i sjön"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "havlu atmak"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "rhoi ffidl yn y to"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-throw in the towel.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e6/En-au-throw_in_the_towel.ogg/En-au-throw_in_the_towel.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/En-au-throw_in_the_towel.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "throw in the towel"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From the traditional signal from a boxer's support staff of throwing such an item into a boxing ring to indicate that the contestant cannot continue the match and is forfeiting to the opponent.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws in the towel",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing in the towel",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw in the towel",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown in the towel",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> in the towel"
},
"expansion": "throw in the towel (third-person singular simple present throws in the towel, present participle throwing in the towel, simple past threw in the towel, past participle thrown in the towel)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "throw to the dogs"
},
{
"word": "throw to the wolves"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English light verb constructions",
"English multiword terms",
"English predicates",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples",
"English verbs",
"Russian terms with redundant script codes"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "If their restaurant can't get business even on Mother's Day, it might be time for them to throw in the towel.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII",
"text": "In short, there was so much space and so many things to shove things behind that most people, called on to find a silver cow-creamer there, would have said “Oh, what's the use?” and thrown in the towel.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To quit; to give up."
],
"links": [
[
"quit",
"quit"
],
[
"give up",
"give up"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To quit; to give up."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-throw in the towel.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e6/En-au-throw_in_the_towel.ogg/En-au-throw_in_the_towel.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/En-au-throw_in_the_towel.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "throw in the cards"
},
{
"word": "throw in the sponge"
},
{
"word": "throw up one's hands"
},
{
"word": "throw up the sponge"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "llançar la tovallola"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "tirar la tovallola"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "hodit flintu do žita"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kaste håndklædet i ringen"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "smide håndklædet i ringen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "de handdoek in de ring werpen"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "alla andma"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "heittää pyyhe kehään"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jeter l’éponge"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jeter la serviette"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jeter le manche après la cognée"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "das Handtuch werfen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "die Flinte ins Korn werfen"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "bedobja a törülközőt"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "leggja árar í bát"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "springa á limminu"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "henda inn handklæðinu"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "melempar handuk"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "do hata a chaitheamh leis"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "an tuáille a chaitheamh isteach"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "do lámh a chaitheamh i bpaca"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "gettare la spugna"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "gettare le armi"
},
{
"alt": "さじをなげる",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "saji o nageru",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "匙を投げる"
},
{
"alt": "おてあげ",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "oteage",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "お手上げ"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kaste inn håndkledet"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "rozkładać ręce"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "rozłożyć ręce"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "jogar a toalha"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "podnjátʹ bélyj flag",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "подня́ть бе́лый флаг"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "opustítʹ rúki",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "опусти́ть ру́ки"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sdátʹsja",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "сда́ться"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "priznátʹ svojó poražénije",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "призна́ть своё пораже́ние"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "priznátʹ sebjá pobeždénnym",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "призна́ть себя́ побежде́нным"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "složítʹ orúžije",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "сложи́ть ору́жие"
},
{
"code": "gd",
"lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "leig an saoghal leis an t-sruth"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "baciti pušku u šaš"
},
{
"code": "sk",
"lang": "Slovak",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "hadzať flintu do žita"
},
{
"code": "sl",
"lang": "Slovene",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "vreči puško v koruzo"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "tirar la toalla"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "botar la toalla"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kasta in handduken"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "kasta yxan i sjön"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "havlu atmak"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "(idiomatic) to quit; to give up",
"word": "rhoi ffidl yn y to"
}
],
"word": "throw in the towel"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). 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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