give

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English[edit]

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 give on Wikipedia

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English given, from Old Norse gefa (“to give”), from Proto-Germanic *gebaną (“to give”). Merged with native Middle English yiven, ȝeven, from Old English ġiefan, from the same Proto-Germanic source (compare the obsolete inherited English doublet yive).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɡɪv/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪv

Verb[edit]

give (third-person singular simple present gives, present participle giving, simple past gave, past participle given)

  1. (ditransitive) To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.
    1. To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone).
      I gave him my coat.
      I gave my coat to the beggar.
      When they asked, I gave my coat.
    2. To make a present or gift of.
      I'm going to give my wife a necklace for her birthday.
      She gave a pair of shoes to her husband for their anniversary.
      He gives of his energies to the organization.
    3. To pledge.
      I gave him my word that I'd protect his children.
    4. To provide (something) to (someone), to allow or afford.
      I gave them permission to miss tomorrow's class.
      Please give me some more time.
    5. To cause (a sensation or feeling) to exist in.
      It gives me a lot of pleasure to be here tonight.
      The fence gave me an electric shock.
      My mother-in-law gives me nothing but grief.
    6. To carry out (a physical interaction) with (something).
      I want to give you a kiss.
      She gave him a hug.
      I'd like to give the tire a kick.
      I gave the boy a push on the swing.
      She gave me a wink afterwards, so I knew she was joking.
    7. To pass (something) into (someone's hand, etc.).
      Give me your hand.
      On entering the house, he gave his coat to the doorman.
    8. To cause (a disease or condition) in, or to transmit (a disease or condition) to.
      My boyfriend gave me chlamydia.
      He was convinced that it was his alcoholism that gave him cancer.
      • a. 1700, William Temple, “Heads, Designed for an Essay on Conversation”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. [...], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, OCLC 23640974, page 331:
        Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  2. (ditransitive) To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something).
    I give it ten minutes before he gives up.
    I give it a 95% chance of success.
    I'll give their marriage six months.
  3. (intransitive) To yield slightly when a force is applied.
    • 1992, Garry Wills, “prologue”, in Lincoln at Gettysburg, page 21:
      A soldier noticed how earth "gave" as he walked over the shallow trenches.
  4. (intransitive) To collapse under pressure or force.
    One pillar gave, then more, and suddenly the whole floor pancaked onto the floor below.
  5. (transitive) To provide, as, a service or a broadcast.
    They're giving my favorite show!
    • 2003, Iain Aitken, Value-Driven IT Management: Commercializing the IT Function, page 153
      […] who did not have a culture in which 'giving good presentation' and successfully playing the internal political game was the way up.
    • 2006, Christopher Matthew Spencer The Ebay Entrepreneur, page 248
      A friendly voice on the phone welcoming prospective new clients is a must. Don't underestimate the importance of giving good "phone".
    • 2022, Adam Morton and Peter Hannam The Guardian
      “I’m absolutely confident that [the battery] will be done in time in 2025 to … ensure that we can give the lights on,” Kean [of Australia] said.
  6. (intransitive) To lead (onto or into).
    The master bedroom gives onto a spacious balcony.
  7. (transitive, dated) To provide a view of.
    His window gave the park.
  8. To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to yield.
    The number of men, divided by the number of ships, gives four hundred to each ship.
  9. To cause; to make; used with the infinitive.
  10. To cause (someone) to have; produce in (someone); effectuate.
    • 1997, Jim Smoke, How a Man Measures Success, page 82:
      "Can do" gives me a choice, while "should do" gives me a complex.
  11. To allow or admit by way of supposition; to concede.
    He can be bad-tempered, I'll give you that, but he's a hard worker.
  12. To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.
  13. To communicate or announce (advice, tidings, etc.); to pronounce or utter (an opinion, a judgment, a shout, etc.).
    The umpire finally gave his decision: the ball was out.
  14. (dated or religion) To grant power, permission, destiny, etc. (especially to a person); to allot; to allow.
  15. (reflexive) To devote or apply (oneself).
    The soldiers give themselves to plunder.
    That boy is given to fits of bad temper.
  16. (obsolete) To become soft or moist.
    • 1590, John Smyth, A Discourse […] concerning […] weapons:
      Some moyst weather hath‥caused the powder to give and danke.
  17. (obsolete) To shed tears; to weep.
  18. (obsolete) To have a misgiving.
  19. (slang) To be going on, to be occurring
    What gives?
Usage notes[edit]
  • In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb give had the form givest, and had gavest for its past tense.
  • Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form giveth was used.
Conjugation[edit]
conjugation of give
infinitive give
present participle giving
past participle given
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I give we give I am giving we are giving I have given we have given I have been giving we have been giving
you give you give you are giving you are giving you have given you have given you have been giving you have been giving
he gives they give he is giving they are giving he has given they have given he has been giving they have been giving
past I gave we gave I was giving we were giving I had given we had given I had been giving we had been giving
you gave you gave you were giving you were giving you had given you had given you had been giving you had been giving
he gave they gave he was giving they were giving he had given they had given he had been giving they had been giving
future I will give we will give I will be giving we will be giving I will have given we will have given I will have been giving we will have been giving
you will give you will give you will be giving you will be giving you will have given you will have given you will have been giving you will have been giving
he will give they will give he will be giving they will be giving he will have given they will have given he will have been giving they will have been giving
conditional I would give we would give I would be giving we would be giving I would have given we would have given I would have been giving we would have been giving
you would give you would give you would be giving you would be giving you would have given you would have given you would have been giving you would have been giving
he would give they would give he would be giving they would be giving he would have given they would have given he would have been giving they would have been giving
imperative give
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
  • (transfer possession of): get, obtain, receive, take
  • (bend slightly when a force is applied): not bend/cede/flex/give/move/yield, resist
Derived terms[edit]

See also given, giver and giving

Terms derived from give
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

give (uncountable)

  1. The amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it; a tendency to yield under pressure; resilence.
    This chair doesn't have much give.
    There is no give in his dogmatic religious beliefs.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

give (plural gives)

  1. Alternative form of gyve

References[edit]

  • give at OneLook Dictionary Search

Danish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • gi' (representing the spoken language)

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse gefa, from Proto-Germanic *gebaną, cognate with English give and German geben. The Germanic verbs go back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- (“to give”) (hence Sanskrit गभस्ति (gábhasti, “arm”)); rather than *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab”) (whence Latin habeō (“to have”)).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

give (imperative giv, present tense giver, past tense gav, past participle givet, c given, givne)

  1. to give

Conjugation[edit]

Inflection of give
present past
simple giver gav
perfect har givet havde givet
passive gives —
participle givende givet
imperative giv —
infinitive give —
auxiliary verb have —
gerund — —

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Swedish[edit]

Verb[edit]

give

  1. present subjunctive of giva

Anagrams[edit]

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