English
Etymology
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
Verb
throw in the towel
( idiomatic ) 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 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 .
Synonyms
Translations
(idiomatic) to quit; to give up
Catalan: llançar la tovallola tirar la tovallola
Czech: hodit flintu do žita (cs)
Danish: kaste håndklædet i ringen smide håndklædet i ringen (da)
Dutch: de handdoek in de ring werpen (nl)
Estonian: alla andma
Finnish: heittää pyyhe kehään
French: jeter l’éponge (fr) , jeter la serviette (fr) , jeter le manche après la cognée (fr)
German: das Handtuch werfen (de) , die Flinte ins Korn werfen (de)
Hungarian: bedobja a törülközőt
Icelandic: gefast upp viðurkenna ósigur sinn leggja árar í bát
(deprecated template usage ) {{trans-mid }}Indonesian: melempar handuk
Italian: gettare la spugna gettare le armi
Japanese: 匙を投げる ( さじをなげる, saji o nageru ) , お手上げ ( おてあげ, oteage )
Norwegian: kaste inn håndkledet (no)
Polish: rozkładać ręce impf rozłożyć ręce pf
Portuguese: jogar a toalha
Russian: подня́ть бе́лый флаг pf ( podnjátʹ bélyj flag ) , опусти́ть ру́ки pf ( opustítʹ rúki ) , сда́ться (ru) pf ( sdátʹsja ) , призна́ть своё пораже́ние ( priznátʹ svojó poražénije ) , призна́ть себя́ побежде́нным ( priznátʹ sebjá pobeždénnym ) , сложи́ть ору́жие ( složítʹ orúžije )
Spanish: tirar la toalla (es) , botar la toalla
Swedish: kasta in handduken (sv) , kasta yxan i sjön (sv)
Turkish: havlu atmak (tr)
See also