throw in the towel

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)

Verb[edit]

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)

  1. (idiomatic) To quit; to give up.
    If their restaurant can't get business even on Mother's Day, it might be time for them to throw in the towel.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:
      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.

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